To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

“To Kill a Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee is based on a narration by a young girl, Scout about her family and neighbors as well as on a memorable event that happened in her town when she as around ten years. The story takes place in the tired, old, southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout lives with her widowed father Atticus who is a lawyer and her older brother Jem. The children perspective of things completely changes when a controversial case is held in the town. Tom Robinson is accused of rape, but these allegations are not true. Scout’s father is named to represent the accused, and he tries to his best to defend Tom. Though there is sufficient evidence to prove his innocence, the jury still finds him guilty as he was black (Sova 94). The major themes in the story were racial prejudice, courage, and compassion among others.

Racial prejudice runs throughout the story. According to the town’s people, blacks had no right to justice. They were viewed as lesser beings that had no significance in the town. Any white sympathizing with them was viewed as a traitor or one who did not respect the community’s view. Tom Robinson was under trial not because he had committed any crime but because he was of an inferior color. Mayella and her father Bob Ewell blatantly lie before the jury and are confident that their false admissions would be considered. Though Atticus tried his best to destroy all the credibility of Ewell’s story, his efforts came to naught. The jury chose to conclude that the black man was lying.

Atticus faced serious disapproval from the town’s people for taking the case as he was not expected to sympathize with a black man. He was called a nigger lover among other abuses. They seemed very disturbed by the turn of events. “Let me tell you something Billy,” another said, “you know the court appointed him to defend the nigger.” (Lee 92).

The theme of courage is also well depicted in the story. Courage is majorly depicted by the lawyer Atticus. The courageous nature of Atticus is well brought out in the way he handles various situations that he has to face in seeking for fairness and justice in the town. For choosing to represent Tom to the best of his abilities, Atticus is despised by the people and faces fierce opposition in Maycomb. Blacks were lowly regarded, and it was expected that no lawyer would offer his services to a black man whose case was against other races. Atticus is therefore regarded as a nigger-lover. His children are not spared either and are insulted by other kids and even fought by grownups. For making Ewell appear as a liar through the destruction of any remaining credibility in the courtroom, Ewell vows revenge against him. He lives true to his word when he attacks the innocent and defenseless Jem and Scout while they walked home from school after a Halloween pageant, resulting in the breakage of Jem’s hand. When the crowd was baying for Tom’s blood, Atticus stands by him to protect him. He wasn’t scared of the mob despite even though he knew he was outnumbered; he was only afraid that they might hurt his kids (Hardacre 79). Atticus also received many death threats, and despite this, he continued with his stand for justice and fairness in the town.

The theme of family is also well outlined in the story. In Maycomb, the institution of family is well respected. According to Aunt Alexandra, the family is everything. Parents are close to their children and pass on the traditions that they should follow. These traditions and expectations are then passed on from generation to generation. The theme can also be outlined by how close Atticus is to his children. He employs a unique parenting style in which he treats his children as adults and patiently answers all questions they have. His relationship with his children is one based on equality and respect (Hardacre 52). His children call him Atticus and not the father; this is meant to show them that they are people, not children. Instead of trying to force societal norms and values on the children, he provides instructions to the children in a teacher-like manner so that they can understand why it is important they act in a particular way.
The book’s main purpose may have been to highlight the main issues that face us as humans. She wanted to depict what life was like for an African -American living in the south of America. She also wanted to highlight how life was like for women, children and the disadvantaged in the community. The book succeeded in highlighting the themes of racial prejudice that was common before and during the 1930s in America and other countries around the world (Sova 126). The book does this through the choosing of a young girl as the narrator so as to make the story look credible in the eyes of the reader. The book also seems to affirm that goodness can withstand the menacing evil in the society.

Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama in around 1926. Monroeville is a sleepy town that is similar to Maycomb in many ways. Lee’s father, just like Atticus Finch, the narrator’s father was a lawyer. The writer also drew inspiration from Truman Capote for the character Dill. Truman was her best childhood friend. All these details suggest that the book is based on real happenings that occurred during the author’s childhood. However, she has maintained that the story had nothing to do with her childhood. This is quite debatable as events that occurred during her childhood bear correlation with the events outlined in the book. For example, when she was just five in 1931, nine black men were accused of the rape of two women in Alabama. After lengthy and controversial trials, five of them were sentenced to serve much of their time in jail. Most of the enlightened citizens saw the sentence as one based on racial prejudice. As time went by, it became quite obvious that the women had all along been lying. There is, therefore, no doubt that this incidence formed the major basis for Lee’s novel.

Works Cited

Hardacre, Kenneth. Notes On Harper Lee, To Kill A Mocking Bird. 1st ed. Bath, England: Brodie, 1976. Print.
This book by Kenneth forms part of a collection of literature guides that are designed for students taking GCSE coursework. The book contains details of Harper Lee, her history, the background to the work, critical commentaries of the texts, summaries of To Kill a Mocking Bird, analysis of the characters and sample questions in the text as well as their answers. The book is written in a simplistic manner that allows the reader to easily understand what the book intends to portray. Though for use by students taking GCSE coursework, the book would still be a good read for students using different course work.
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. 1st ed. London: Vintage Classics, 2007. Print.
Sova, Dawn. To Kill A Mockingbird. 1st ed. Lincoln, Neb.: Cliffs Notes, 1984. Print.
In this book, Sova Dawn attempts to give the reader a clear understanding of what to Kill a Mocking Bird is all about while still offering him the opportunity of following the events in the book as they happened. The book first outlines scenes and occurrences in the book and then later gives an explanation on the happenings in the scene as well as themes outlined.
Dawn Sova, an experienced and long tome lecturer at Montclair State University, depicts her mastery of literature in the book by analyzing each of the aspects in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird” in a very precise way. The reader is left fully convinced of what the novel is about. She outlines that the underlying issue in the novel is racial prejudice and that the author clearly depicted this in her novel.