To Kill a Mockingbird
Uploaded by holland476 on Mar 24, 2001
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story unfolds through the eyes of a six-year-old girl named Scout. The story takes place in the small southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the early 1900s where prejudice was at its peak. Miss Harper Lee has chosen Scout as the narrator in this story. This narrative technique has many strengths and some weakness. Scout is a bright, sensitive and intelligent little girl. For all her intelligence, she is still a child and not always fully understands the implications of the events she reports. This is sometimes amusing, like the time she thinks Miss Maudie’s loud voice scares Miss Stephanie. Scout does her best to inform us of the happenings at the Tom Robinson trial. Yet, she is not certain what rape is, or aware of the prejudice surrounding her. Ultimately she represents the innocence within society. This story has a variety of themes and lessons including maturity (the story shows Jem and Scout going through many life lessons and how they’ve grown from it), prejudice (like in the Tom Robinson case in this small community), and courage (it takes courage for anyone to stand up to the events that go on in this book.
Throughout the story the reader see how Scout and Jem are afraid of Arthur “Boo” Radley because they think he is a monster and try to tease him. They try to play tricks on Boo. Later in the novel they are no longer afraid of him and are no longer interested in teasing him. Jem and Scout had believed that their father was not like any other fathers in school. They see him as an old man who cannot do anything. However, when a dog appears on the street, Atticus, their father, kills that dog with one shot. They are surprised to learn that he is the best shot in the town. They’re attitude towards their father changes. This is a sign of maturity. “ The rifle cracked. Tin Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk in a brown-and-white heap. He didn’t know what hit him.”(96) Jem became vaguely articulate, “you see him, Scout? You see him just stand there? All of a sudden he just relaxed all over. It looked like that gun was a part of him… and he did it so quick, like… I hafta aim from ten minutes fore...