Reflecting on Dill’s escape from his indifferent parents, Scout observes of her family: “They needed me.” We see the Finches as a close-knit, loving family, whose father explains everything. Harper Lee depicts a number of different families in the novel: notably the Finches, the Ewells and the Radleys. In the book, To kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee highlights the meaning of the narrative using novel standpoint, structure and irony In this essay I will be exploring Jem and Scout's journey to maturity throughout the novel Atticus later says, “it took an eight-year-old child to bring ‘em to their senses.you children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. Seeing her classmate’s dad in the crowd, Scout just talks naturally to him and the whole situation is defused. While Jem understands the danger that Atticus is in, Scout merely thinks her father is about to demonstrate some clever trick, like he does when playing games with them. This scene also highlights the differences of understanding between Jem and Scout due to their four year age gap. The power of innocence is demonstrated most clearly in the jail-house scene in Chapter 15. When Nathan, Boo’s older brother, cements the hole, Jem is in tears, aware of the increased isolation Boo must feel in his own family. Child-like himself, he responds to their childish attempts to send him messages, and he gives them gifts in return through the knot-hole in the tree. Their innocent attempts “to make Boo Radley come out” show an interest in Boo that his own family have never shown. During the trial, Dolphus Raymond confides in them because, as he says of Dill, “things haven’t caught up with that one’s instinct yet.” The children, following their father’s example, haven’t been contaminated with the attitudes that bring Tom to trial.įor the same reason, Boo is drawn to them. They can go where others can’t – for instance, to the black church with Calpurnia into the black balcony in the courtroom out to the Robinson house after Tom’s death. The children have a special role in the novel. She uses a narrator who is an adult reflecting on traumatic events from her childhood, which include the terrors – “He put his arms over his head and went rigid,” – but also the joys – “Beautiful things floated around in his dreamy head.” To Kill a Mockingbird draws its great charm from Harper Lee’s depiction of children- it is a charming and funny novel, despite its very serious subject. To Kill A Mockingbird Essay: Powerful and Powerless In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee mentions that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. There’s no sentimentality about the author, however- Tom is shot dead, his family devastated, and Boo remains permanently damaged, re-entering his “prison.” Racism may be the principal target in the book, but Harper Lee implicitly tells us that a society that doesn’t include those less fortunate or favoured won’t produce much of a world. It is possible to see the whole novel as a plea for tolerance and inclusivity, written when most African Americans in the south inhabited a segregated world of white and “coloured” people and could not even register to vote. Even Mayella Ewell (see character study) – the main witness against Tom - is weak and exploited by her father. It’s possible also to see the dreamy, homeless Dill as a kind of mockingbird- too sensitive for the ugliness he sees in the courtroom. Tom and Boo are presented as being characters with similar situations. When Tom is shot by the prison guards (in effect committing suicide) the local newspaper reports “so children could understand” that “it was a sin to kill cripples.” Likening Tom’s death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds.” Similarly, when the sheriff covers up Boo’s role in the death of Bob Ewell, Scout approves, telling her father, “.it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” Clearly the symbolism tells us that these birds stand for the vulnerable, who can easily fall prey to insensitivity-as seen in the community’s treatment of Boo Radley, or to violent persecution- as in the case of Tom Robinson. When Atticus stands alone in the street facing the rabid dog, “The trees were still, the mockingbirds were silent.” Here the mockingbirds represent the threatened community in the face of a then incurable disease (rabies). Atticus, pretending no interest in guns, nevertheless gives the children air-rifles but instructs them that “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” - because, Miss Maudie confirms, they are harmless. There are a number of references in the story to mockingbirds. By lucycarrick03gmailcom | Thursday 19th of January 2023Ĭheck out our analysis of some of the important themes that Harper Lee included in her novel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |