To Kill a Mockingbird Analysis Essay Example For Students

To Kill a Mockingbird Analysis Essay To Kill a Mockingbird is an excellent example of a bildungsroman. Bildungsroman is a genre of novel in which characters go from a position of ignorance and in To Kill a Mockingbird, the position of youth to a position of greater maturity and understanding. Harper Lee deals with many adult issues in To Kill a Mockingbird through the eyes and ears of a child narrator; this allows the reader to overcome any prejudices an adult narrator may express. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is one of the few characters influenced only by the ethical custodian figure that is their father, Atticus. Despite the apparent lack of any real control over her, from a very early stage in the novel the impression is given that Atticus is one of the few people Scout will pay attention to. Rather than the more common fatherly approach of force, Atticus uses compromise: If you concede the necessity to go to school, well go reading every night just as we always have. Is it a bargain? Yes sir! This one example of Atticuss approach may reveal one way by which Scout can mature: the more traditional forceful approach of fatherhood may have instilled a fear in Scout of her father, and caused her to remain a child for a longer period of time. Instead, she matures as result of Atticuss more adult-like approach towards the treatment of his children. This allows them to develop their own views, and to make decisions for themselves. At the beginning of the novel, Scout is portrayed as a hotheaded individual, who thinks that playground violence solves problems: Catching Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard gave me some pleasure, but when I was rubbing his nose in the dirt Jem came by and told me to stop. Scouts reason for inciting a fight with Walter was an immature one, yet is related to the prejudice she experiences in Maycomb. She was angered by others prejudices towards blacks, and towards her father defending Tom Robinson. Later in the novel it is clear to see how she has reached the first stage of level-headedness when confronted with a threatening situation instead of jumping in with her fists flying, she finds the strength to resist the taunts of those less mature than her. After this incident, Atticus again reminds Scout of the importance of not fighting: You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head up high and keep those fists down. Atticus seems to know that he can rely upon the great respect Scout harbours for him to see that his point is remembered. It seems to the reader that Scout has taken this advice well, when she walks away from a fight at school, again from prejudiced taunts about her fathers case, with Atticuss words reverberating in her head. She possesses the maturity, it seems, to take advice to heart very quickly, and to realise that to break a tacit promise to her father would be a great regression in her path towards becoming a rounded individual. Yet only a short time later the book almost deliberately makes a point of the fact that she regresses back to fisticuffs in order to settle a petty dispute with Francis. Francis appears in the novel as being particularly susceptible to his grandmothers prejudices. This results in Scout no longer being able to resist the temptation of violence. This may be because, whereas in the schoolyard she could walk away, Francis is perpetually irritating her with the constant irritation of his presence. After initially displaying the maturity shown when walking away from a fight, she is unable to muster the inner strength required to repeat the task. This, however, should not be taken as meaning that Scout will no longer be able to resist the temptation of fighting: as I have previously mentioned, to portray the rise to maturity of Scout to be smooth and uneventful would be unrealistic: Harper Lees inclusion of this event makes Scouts progression seem pragmatic. When previously she could resist the lure of a fight by reminding herself of conforming to one of Atticus very few regulations, there is still the child present inside her, which cannot yet be restrained. Courage is also a lesson in which Scout experiences both the extremes: true bravery Mrs. Duboses morphine addiction, and the distinct lack of nerve Mayella Ewells towards her father, all from a tender age. These lessons provoke emotions in Scout that she finds difficult to explain-only then does she talk to Atticus, who instils in her the true connotation of her experience. He clarifies her childish thoughts, until eventually she no longer needs to convert her thoughts into adult ones, due to the fact that they are already clear to her. Scouts discovery of Mrs. Gender Relations in Efuru EssayMany people in Maycomb tend to be very aware of their differences and to categorise each other. The Cunninghams are poor and hard-working. They are described as â€Å"the Cunningham tribe†; The word tribe suggests that they are less advanced and poorer than the rest of the community.l The children in Maycomb reflect the rest of Maycomb society to a large extent. They are very aware of the history of the American civil war and that they were on the side of the Southern states. When Miss Caroline Fisher said that she was from North Alabama which was part of the Northern States, â€Å"the class murmured apprehensively, should she harbour her share of the peculiarities indigenous to that region† The word â€Å"harbour† suggests that Maycomb people see people from the Northern States as holding negative features and the words â€Å"peculiarities indigenous† suggest that the Maycomb people view people from the Northen States as s trange and less advanced. However, the children also have good qualities, which reflect some of the good parts of Maycomb society. When Burris Ewell made Miss Caroline cry, the rest of the class tried to comfort her by saying such things as â€Å"now don’t you fret, ma’am. Miss Caroline, why don’t you read us a story? That cat thing was real fine this mornin’†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The phrase â€Å"that cat thing† shows that the children view the story of the cat which Miss Caroline read in the morning as something strange, but they wanted to make her happy by asking her to read another story. Harper Lee uses language creatively and effectively to help us see and know the people and place of Maycomb better. From her use of various figures of speech, imagery and devices of sound, we find that Maycomb is a small town, and it’s people live in a â€Å"small-town† community. Most of the Maycomb community is friendly but most of the people are also judgemental and intolerant, excluding other pople such as snobby, unfriendly families, poor people and the black community. They also tend to categorise each other on the basis of social status. The children of Maycomb reflect the rest of the Maycomb community to a large extent, and the language used to describe them also helps us to understand Maycomb society. English Essays