Thesis Statement
The perspective of Scout and Jem on events of the book makes it enduring, as it allows us even today to gain a child’s perspective on the horrors and prejudices of our society.
Mockingbirds
Lee Harper
- Lee Harper born 1926, witnessed Scottsboro Trial of 1931 - 1937
- Trial of Tom Robinson based on Scottsboro Trial.
- Novel is primarily based on her perspective of Alabaman life in the 1930s.
'To Kill A Mockingbird' - to destroy someone's innocence.
- Tom Robinson - wrongly convicted, eventually shot.
- Boo Radley - shunned from society at an early age, misdemeanors, stabbed father in leg w/scissors.
"stayed shut up in the house all this time... because he wants to stay inside." (Ch23, pg251)
- Jem Finch - transition from innocent childhood to struggling adolescence.
"If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other?" (Ch23, pg251)
"...his shoulders jerked, as if each 'guilty' was a separate stab between them..." (Ch21, pg233)
Scout and Jem
What makes the novel enduring?
- Grants the reader a child's perspective, as well as a simpler understanding of the racial injustice in the 1930s.
- The innocence lost by the several mockingbirds in the novel portrays both the transition between what is deemed to be morally just, and what the realities are.
Scout vs Ms. Caroline
- Ms. Caroline is upset by the knowledge of Scout's literacy.
- She is unfamiliar with the personal lives of the
Maycomb children, Maycomb being a very intimate town.
- Scout learns that not everything in life is fair.
"...until I feared I would lose it, I never loved reading. One does not love breathing." (Ch2, pg20)
Scout & Jem vs Reality
- Both Jem and Scout lose some innocence before the start of the novel, as their mother had died when they were younger.
- After seeing Tom Robinson wrongly convicted, Scout and Jem discover the true prejudices of their town, and nation.
Loss of Innocence
by Yuval Omer