Characteristics Of A Town In To Kill A Mockingbird

Paul Buxton Mr. Halbe English 9-1 10/8/2017 A town in itself has a personality like that of a living being. Its personality is a result of its past experiences, its occupants, and surrounding influences. These forces combine and act in a complicated way to move a city, like an organism, through growth and change. Significant forces such as the great depression influence attitudes, such as racism, toward others as individuals compete to survive. In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout, the daughter of a lawyer by the name of Atticus Finch, tells the story of growing up in the small southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Through her eyes, the reader discovers many of the struggles of the period faced by its inhabitants and resembled†¦show more content†¦Before Atticus shot the rabid dog, Jem and Scout, as well as the reader had a difficult time understanding Atticus and his personal values. After the dog is shot, Jem and Scout realize that Atticus hides some of his talents for personal reasons. His background sheds l ight on the overall development of his character as well as goes hand in hand with the development of Maycomb itself.The town of Maycomb can get trapped in a recurring cycle of habits and ignorance that are usually either carried out by the people, or by individuals that demonstrate habitual behavior. For example, while talking to Jem, Atticus exclaims, â€Å"I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep† (Lee 213). In the above example, Atticus is referring to how the jury convicted Tom Robinson despite clear evidence suggesting inevitably otherwise. The fact that the people on the jury convicted Tom, merely because of his race, shows that they are demonstrating negative habitual behavior as well as ignorance. The people’s instinctive racial discrimination parallels the way in which, despite there being movements against it, Maycomb is still s egregated into multiple parts. In fact, the towns area for African Americans is entirely separate from the city itself. The way in which theShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird1374 Words   |  6 Pages Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is best known as a literary classic, telling the tale of a young girl named Jean Louise â€Å"Scout† Finch’s childhood in a southern Alabama town during the great depression. While the fate of a black male convicted of rape still looms in the synopsis. To Kill a Mockingbird the title of the novel, refers to a quote on page 119. Both said by Atticus Finch the town of Maycombs lawyer and Miss Maudie his neighbor, â€Å"it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird†. As said by Miss MaudieRead MoreCharacterization Of Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1323 Words   |  6 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird SOAPStone Author She also based most of scout finch’s characterization on her past and childhood. Some examples are Scout was a tomboy so was Lee, Scout had no mother and Lee’s mother was Abusive to her, Scout read on her father’s lap so did Lee, etc. She grew up in kansas so she had a good idea of prejudice and inequality from her childhood which again made it easy for to create the Character Scout She wrote this during the civil rights movement when there was a large inequalityRead MoreThe Characters Of Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee Essay1464 Words   |  6 Pagesare plenty of important characters in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The story chronicles life through the eyes of young children, but also shows first hand accounts of racist adults in the small town of Holcomb. This book is so unique because symbolism is avidly used. The main characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are symbolized as mockingbirds. There are many different situations where a character can be categorized as a mockingbird. A mockingbird can be a meek man accused of a crime, or a youngRead MoreLiterature Adds To Reality Essay1648 Words   |  7 Pagesauthor. This quote, to me, is the most appropriate description of the importance of literature in our lives. Literature reminds us of stories, epics, sacred scriptures and classical works of the ancient and modern times, in which the book To Kill a Mock ingbird clearly does. Literature is defined as the body of written works of a language, period or culture, produced by scholars and researchers, specialized in a given field. Why is literature important? Well, let’s see as stated in the quotation byRead MoreHarper Lee s Novel Of The Same Title896 Words   |  4 Pagesserved as depictions of our society. They have been mirrors reflecting upon us what we are, what we would like to be, and how we view ourselves. â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† is in fact a classic film that does just that. Directed by Robert Mulligan, this film was based on Harper Lee’s novel of the same title. The screenplay by Horton Foote, â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird is both a coming of age story of three young children, told from the perspective of Scout as she reflects upon an important court case involvingRead MoreTheme Of To Kill A Mockingbird1699 Words   |  7 Pages The Pureness of Mockingbirds In 1960, Harper Lee published one of the most controversial books of our time. To kill a mockingbird contains three debatable themes; racism, good and evil, and morals. Harper Lee uses three children and rape trial to portray these topics. These themes are present throughout the story of a small Alabama town divided over a rape trial including an African American man and a young white girl. Lee’s novel is still disputed over to this day. One of the book’s centralRead MoreMajor Themes in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee989 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in 1903. This novel is basically a coming of age story for a young girl named Scout and her older brother named Jem. Who grows up in a time where racism is normal. They soon learn to stand up for what is right, just like their dad, Atticus. The Coexistence of Good and Evil The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is the Coexistence of good and evil. The novel approaches this theme in many ways throughoutRead Moreâ€Å"Shoot All The Blue Jays If You Want, If You Can Hit’Em,1224 Words   |  5 Pagesyou can hit’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,† ( Lee pg 90) In Harper Lee’s famous novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the author emphasizes the major issue of justice representing the symbol of a mockingbird. Taking place in the 1930s in the Deep South, a time when racial inequality and great intolerance were highly prevalent. The novel comes out as an injustice to the most gracious and thoughtful but unjustly accused citizens from the town of Maycomb. The kind, good natured, AfricanRead MoreEssay Innocents in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee897 Words   |  4 PagesThe title â€Å"To Kill A Mockingbird† is taken from a quote in the book, where Atticus says Shoot all the blue jays you wa nt, if you can hit em, but remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird. (lee Later, Miss Maudie Atkinson states that Mockingbirds dont do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. (p.177). This shows that mocking birds are innocent, and that is why Atticus strongly forbids his children to kill them. To Kill a Mockingbird novels theme is how prejudice affects the town of maycomb,alabamaRead MoreSummary Of Kill A Mockingbird 1030 Words   |  5 Pages The setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is in Maycomb County, which is a unrealistic district in Southern Alabama. The years are in the early 1930s, the time of the Great Depression when poverty and unemployment were a widespread in the U.S. The town of Maycomb is pretty sloppy because streets are not paved and got turned into red slop ( red mud). The people in the town are really nice and had a bunch of old ladies baking delicious cakes and town sheriffs saying folsky things. The courthouse is