Representation in “To kill a mockingbird” Essay

MockingbirdThe scoffer means innocence. Like hunters who kill scoffers for sport, masses kill innocence, or other concourse who are truthful, with pop out thinking near what they are doing. genus genus genus genus Atticus stands firm in his defense of innocence and urges his nestlingren non to ostentate mockingbirds both factually and figuratively. The mockingbird motif arises four generation during To Kill a Mockingbird. First, when Atticus gives Jem and spotter air guns for Christmas and instructs them not to kill mockingbirds. Second, when B.B. Underwood writes about tom Robinsons death in his column. Third, a mockingbird sings right before bobtail Ewell attacks Jem and discoverer. Finally, piquet agrees with Atticus that prosecuting dame for Ewells murder would be equivalent killing a mockingbird.Atticus Father of Jem and piquet, Atticus Finch sits on the atomic numeral 13 State Legislature and acts as Maycombs leading attorney. The epitome of righteous charact er, Atticus teaches his children and his community how to stand up for unitys beliefs in the face of prejudice and ignorance by defending a b want man, turkey cock Robinson, wrongfully accused of raping a white charr. Having lost his wife when watch was two eld old, Atticus devotes himself to his children despite criticism from family and neighbors who think his children lack discipline and proper guidance. Atticus stands as one of literatures strongest and most(prenominal) positive father figures. As one of the most outstanding citizens in Maycomb during the Great Depression, Atticus is relatively well off in a period of widesp say poverty.Because of his penetrating in insureigence, calm wisdom, and exemplary behavior, Atticus is respected by everyone, including the very poor. He functions as the deterrent example pillar of Maycomb, a person to whom others turn in eras of doubt and trouble. just now the conscience that makes him so admirable ultimately causes his falli ng out with the battalion of Maycomb. Unable to abide the towns comfortable ingrained racial prejudice, he agrees to defend turkey cock Robinson, a dreary man. Atticuss action makes him the object of scorn in Maycomb, but he is solely too impressive a figure to be scorned for long. subsequently the trial, he seems destined to be held in the same high require as before. Atticus practices the ethic of sympathy and seeing that he preaches to guide and Jem and never holds a grudge against the people of Maycomb. Despite their callous quietude to racial inequality, Atticus sees oft to value in them.Herecognizes that people require both good and bad qualities, and he is determined to admire the good while understanding and forgiving the bad. Atticus passes this great moral less(prenominal)on on to piquetthis linear perspective protects the innocent from being destroyed by contact with crime. Ironically, though Atticus is a heroic figure in the fresh and a respected man in Mayc omb, neither Jem nor scout consciously idolizes him at the beginning of the novel. Both are embarrassed that he is older than other fathers and that he doesnt hunt or fish. however Atticuss wise parenting, which he sums up in Chapter 30 by saying, Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and Ive well-tried to live so I can look squarely posterior at him, ultimately wins their respect. By the end of the novel, Jem, in particular, is fiercely prone to Atticus ( observation post, still a little girl, loves him uncritically). Though his childrens location toward him evolves, Atticus is characterized throughout the playscript by his absolute consistency. He stands rigidly committed to arbitrator and thoughtfully willing to view matters from the perspectives of others.He does not develop in the novel but retains these qualities in equal measure, making him the novels moral guide and function of conscience. atticuss wisdom, Scout learns that though gayity has a great ap titude for evil, it withal has a great capacity for good, and that the evil can often be mitigated if one approaches others with an outlook of sympathy and understanding. Atticus Finch Scout and Jems father, a lawyer in Maycomb descended from an old local family. A widower with a dry grit of humor, Atticus has instilled in his children his strong sense of morality and justice. He is one of the few residents of Maycomb committed to racial equality.When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community. With his strongly held convictions, wisdom, and empathy, Atticus functions as the novels moral backbone. The father of Scout and Jem, Atticus is a lawyer and an extremely morally upright man who strives to deal with everyone fairly. Atticus is sometimes overly optimistic, but his unshakable hope in homo and self-created role as the town do-gooder sustain him. Atticus wife died when Scout was very small, and he has raised his children save with the assistance of Calpurnia, his black housekeeper and cook.QuotationI remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at any thing in the house and that hed earlier Id shoot at tin cans in the backyard. moreover he said that sooner or later he supposititious the temptation to go after birds would be too such(prenominal), and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted if I could hit em but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. Well, I reckon because mockingbirds wear thint do anything but make harmony for us to enjoy. They dont eat peoples gardens, dont nest in the corncrib, they dont do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us.Atticuss advice to Scout deals with his philosophy about tolerance, and how if you try and put yourself in another persons place, one might better understand their reasoning. The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal da ta link to the plot, but it carries a great deal of symbolic lading in the book. In this apologue of innocents destroyed by evil, the mockingbird comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr. Raymond) can be identified as mockingbirdsinnocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil. This connection between the novels title and its main theme is do explicit several times in the novel after Tom Robinson is shot, Mr. Underwood compares his death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds, and at the end of the book Scout thinks that hurting Boo Radley would be like shootin a mockingbird. about important, Miss Maudie explains to Scout Mockingbirds dont do one thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. Thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird. That Jem and Scouts locomote name is Finch (another type of small bird) indicates that they are particularly vulnerable in the racist world of Maycomb, which often treats the fragile innocence of childhood harshly. His stern but fair attitude toward Jem and Scout reaches into the courtroom as well. He politely proves that bobsled Ewell is a liar he respectfully questions Mayella about her role in Toms crisis.One of the things that his longtime patron Miss Maudie admires about him is that Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets. The only time he disadvantageously lectures his children is on the evils of taking advantage of those less fortunate or less educated, aphilosophy he carries into the animal world by his refusal to hunt. And although most of the town readily pins the label trash on other people, Atticus reserves that distinction for those people who unfairly exploit others.Atticus believes in justice and the justice system. He doesnt like criminal law, that he accepts the appointment to Tom Robinsons brass. He knows before he begins that hes going to lose this case, but that doesnt hang-up him from giving Tom the strongest defense he possibly can. And, importantly, Atticus doesnt put so much effort into Toms case because hes an African American, but because he is innocent. Atticus feels that the justice system should be color blind, and he defends Tom as an innocent man, not a man of color. Our first-person narrator is Scout Finch, who is five when the story begins and eight when it ends. From the first chapter, though, its clear that Scout is remembering and narrating these events much later after all, the second paragraph of the novel begins, When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to Jems accident (1.2).For the most part, Scout recounts the events from her childhood perspective, as she understood them at the time, rather than imposing an adult commentary. This makes the fib perspective a nave one often we get descriptions of events just as she experiences them, without commentary on what they mean, or a commentary that is humorously innocent. except having the adult perspective be there in the background, even if it isnt in play for most of the narration, means it can pop out when its needed to point out important things that the narrator realizes only later, to make sure that the reader sees them too.The strongest element of style is Lees talent for narration, called tactile brilliance. Harper Lee has a unparalleled gift of story-telling. Her art is visual, and with cinematographic fluidity and subtlety we see a photo melting into another scene without jolts of transition. Lee combines the narrators voice of a child observing her surroundings with a grown womans reflecting on her childhood, using the ambiguity of this voice combined withthe narrative technique of flashback to play intricately with perspectives. This narrative method allows Lee to tell a delightfully deceptive story that mixes the simplicit y of childhood watching with adult situations complicated by hidden motivations and unquestioned tradition.However, at times the blending causes reviewers to question Scouts preternatural vocabulary and discretion of understanding. Lee uses parody, satire, and irony effectively by using a childs perspective. After Dill promises to marry her, then spends too much time with Jem, Scout reasons the best way to get him to pay tutelage to her is to beat him up, which she does several times. Scouts first day in school is a satirical treatment of education her teacher says she moldiness undo the damage Atticus has wrought in teaching her to read and write, and forbids Atticus from teaching her further. Lee treats the most unfunny situations with irony, however, as Jem and Scout try to understand how Maycomb embraces racism and still tries sincerely to remain a decent society. Satire and irony are used to such an extent. Scout narrates the story herself, looking back in retrospect an unspe cified number of years after the events of the novel take place.POINT OF VIEW Scout narrates in the first person, telling what she saw and heard at the time and augmenting this narration with thoughts and assessments of her experiences in retrospect. Although she is by no means an omniscient narrator, she has grow considerably over the intervening years and often implicitly and humorously comments on the navet she displayed in her thoughts and actions as a boylike girl. Scout mostly tells of her own thoughts but also devotes considerable time to recounting and analyzing Jems thoughts and actions.TONE Childlike, humorous, nostalgic, innocent as the novel progresses, increasingly dark, foreboding, and critical of societyMAJOR CONFLICT The childhood innocence with which Scout and Jem begin the novel is threatened by numerous incidents that expose the evil side of human nature, most notably the guilty verdict in Tom Robinsons trial and the vengefulness of Bob Ewell. As the novel pr ogresses, Scout and Jem struggle to maintain faith in the human capacity for good in light of these recurringinstances of human evil.RISING execute Scout, Jem, and Dill become fascinated with their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley and have an escalating series of encounters with him. Meanwhile, Atticus is assigned to defend a black man, Tom Robinson against the spurious rape charges Bob Ewell has brought against him. Watching the trial, Scout, and especially Jem, cannot understand how a jury could possibly convict Tom Robinson based on the Ewells distinctly fabricated story.CLIMAX Despite Atticuss capable and warm defense, the jury finds Tom Robinson guilty. The verdict forces Scout and Jem to confront the fact that the ethical motive Atticus has taught them cannot always be reconciled with the reality of the world and the evils of human nature.FALLING ACTION When word spreads that Tom Robinson has been shot while toilsome to escape from prison, Jem struggles to come to terms w ith the injustice of the trial and of Tom Robinsons fate. After making a variety of threats against Atticus and others connected with the trial, Bob Ewell assaults Scout and Jem as they walk home one night, but Boo Radley saves the children and fatally stabs Ewell. The sheriff, knowing that Boo, like Tom Robinson, would be misunderstood and liable(predicate) convicted in a trial, protects Boo by saying that Ewell tripped and fell on his own knife. After sitting and talking with Scout briefly, Boo retreats into his house, and Scout never sees him again.