To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Examples - Argumentative Topics for Research Papers

The Illiteracy of the American Population in the 1930s through “To Kill a Mockingbird”

In 2018, the US ranks 14th worldwide in overall education performance (www.masterandmore.com). This is a significant improvement from where we stood back in the early 1900s, particularly in the south. In the 1930s, 3.8% of white Americans, and 19.7% of black Americans from the south could not read or write in any language (NBER.org). Harper Lee elucidates the illiteracy of the American population in the 1930s through her famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout this story, Lee highlights illiteracy […]

To Kill a Mockingbird Themes: Race and Prejudice

Martin Luther King Jr. once stated that black people undoubtedly commit crimes, as do all people of America, but most crimes they are convicted of are derivative. To Kill a Mockingbrid is set during the 1930s, but written and published in 1960, during which the Civil Rights Movement was a momentous protest that was sweeping the nation. To Kill a Mockingbird is a historic, fictional novel that outlines the hardships of a wrongly accused black man living in an America […]

To Kill a Mockingbird: Racial Tension in the Justice System

Did you know that “… one of every three black males born today will go to prison in his lifetime…” (Justice for All?). No matter what you think about the circumstances that leads up to the origin of this problem, “… it should be deeply disturbing to all Americans that these figures represent the future for a generation of children growing up today.” (Justice for All?). This is a major issue because one third of African Americans in this generation […]

To Kill a Mockingbird: Plot Overview

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird take places in the sleepy Alabama town of Maycomb where the Finches live. The narrator of the story is the youngest child of the two children of the Finches, a little girl named Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. The story is happening during the time of the Great Depression. Scout lived with her father and her brother. Her father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer with high moral standards at the time. Her brother, Jeremy Atticus […]

To Kill a Mockingbird Book Vs Movie

To begin with, To Kill a Mockingbird is a very worldwide known book. This book was published in 1960 and became a bestseller. After the success of the book, it became a film that everyone was watching. Throughout this book, you are able to notice a lot of different themes such as love, Kindness, Cruelty, Hatred, and Humor. This book tells the story of a young little girl who lives in a small town with her father and her brother. […]

To Kill a Mockingbird Feminism

The story of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, takes place in a rural, southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. This is a time in the United States where people were still holding onto traditional values and ideas. Maycomb was no different in that men were the ones going out to work, while certain different roles were expected of women. Women were to be delicate, always be polite and even wear dresses. Lee uses the characters […]

To Kill a Mockingbird Social Inequality

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” Harper Lee covers many social issues that are occurring in the 1930’s in the town of Maycomb. In Lee’s book, adventures are tainted by the reality that Maycomb is filled with racism, poverty, gossip, elitism, and injustice. Child abuse, which is a big topic, must be discussed because of how much we don’t talk about the topic. Child abuse can occur especially when living in poverty but doesn’t mean all poor people abuse their love […]

“To Kill a Mockingbird” (empathy)

In short, the main idea of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the conflict between good and evil, such as the racial oppression on the African Americans’ impact on Jem and Scout. The novel also draws parallels to people who are oppressed, regardless of their race, such as Arthur “Boo” Radley and teaches the importance of the Golden Rule. The overarching problem in To Kill a Mockingbird, or TKAMB for short was the case of Tom Robinson, an […]

To Kill a Mockingbird Great Depression

Influences of Society Growing up during a time of racial tension and injustices of society is difficult and can leave a profound impact on ones’ life. Harper Lee’s experience during this time period influenced her to write To Kill a Mockingbird. This novel tells a story about a family living during the Great Depression who had different views and morals from the rest of the prejudice families in Alabama. Harper Lee uses these characters, including the main character Scout, in […]

How to Kill a Mockingbird Showed Americans New Perspectives on Racism, Sexism, and the Great Depression

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee seemed like the perfect book for this analysis because it is a classic and it is full of symbolism. The setting of the book is about the town Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s from the perspective of an eight year old tom-boy like girl, Scout Finch. This paper discusses how the novel portrays the time period and how it showed Americans new perspectives on issues like racism, sexism, and the Great Depression. In […]

Theme of to Kill a Mockingbird

Living in a society, humans have a great desire to fit in with the rest of mankind. It compiles them to go with the flow, even when the majority is irrational. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was set in the 60s in America, an era in which discrimination against African Americans was still a very prominent issue. Told from Scout’s childlike perspective, the plot is centered around a rape case regarding Tom Robinson, an African American […]

Injustice in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee

Injustice is a matter that a person faces every day. It can be seen in the form of court cases or grounding a child from video games. In the contemporary era, people seldom ever think about the injustice a person goes through with racism. Nevertheless, society was not always caring, gracious or humble. History especially the US History has proven repetitively that racism can be one of the major “parents” to social inequality as well as social class. The 1896 […]

Symbolism of “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” A mockingbird symbolizes the good in people. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, people in the town jump to bad conclusions before knowing what really happened. This does not show a mockingbird, this shows the bad about the town. Scout’s family is already educated and they do not have the same opinion about people as other town folks. […]

Classism in to Kill a Mockingbird

The 1930’s were a dim time for America, separation was abundant and ascended as one of the numerous imperfections in the purported impeccable country. Harper Lee’s shows her philosophical viewpoint in her show-stopper, To Kill a Mockingbird, which mimics the impacts of class segregation in an unassuming community in Southern America, through the eyes of an honest young lady named Scout. Harper Lee displays this using language decisions, characterisation and imagery to show how separation change the oppinions and generalizations […]

Calpurnia’s Character in to Kill a Mockingbird

Question 3: Calpurnia is the African-American cook and housekeeper for the Finches. She acts as a mother figure and disciplinarian in the Finch household. In some ways, she even takes the place of Scout and Jem’s dead mother. Atticus trusts Calpurnia, relies on her for support raising his children, and considers her as part of the family. Calpurnia’s characters towards the children make them close to her. She is a loving and caring person. In this novel, Calpurnia’s loving character […]

Character Development in to Kill a Mockingbird

A wise man once said, your personality determines the choices you make in life. This famous quote came to mind almost immediately, which in turn invited similar ideas resonated with me throughout. Jem, Scout, and Atticus all have different personalities that will determine the events that they will go through in the future as well as their character traits. Which brings me to my point, personality determines the choices that you make in the further. Equally as important, the theme […]

Rumors Problems in to Kill a Mockingbird

School can become a little overrated when it comes to real life issues and real-life lessons. In To A Mockingbird, it really shows that you learn more important life lessons outside of school. In this story, she learned that you shouldn’t let rumors control you, that sometimes you have to suck it up and just deal with a problem and to look in others perspective. Rumors are a big problem in everyday life but specifically, in this story, it is […]

Children’s Life in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee

The New York Times states, that “Scores of motherless children are overlooked in America every day.” In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the two children, Scout and Jem Finch, have been motherless since Scout was 2, and Jem was 6. Although they do not have a mother, they have three mother figures. One is Calpurnia, their maid, another is Miss Maudie their neighbor, and the third is their Aunt Alexandra. Even though these children are […]

Social Injustice in “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Racism was a very large part of society in the south during the 1930’s. Many colored people were thought of as less than their peers. Whites were considered better than African Americans were, and almost every white person accepted the unjust judgment. Racial discrimination hit hard in the south. Many of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird were impacted by racial discrimination but the one that was impacted the most was Tom Robinson. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper […]

Role Models in to Kill a Mockingbird

Young people always need someone to look up to, whether it is to become something great like their idol or have an evil turn on it. In Harper Lees novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the protagonist Jean Louise, also called Scout, sees the full truth of the people in her community. Growing up around the injustices reveals the implicit corrupt souls of the people she is surrounded by. Some in the novel seek to invoke for a teaching to go […]

Examples of Courage in to Kill a Mockingbird

The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a family who lives in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. The story is narrated by Scout Finch, she takes you through her childhood life in Maycomb, her father Atticus is a lawyer. Her brother is Jem Finch, he is four years older than Scout. Arthur Radley also is called Boo Radley, he is the Finch’s neighbor, he is this mysterious man who stays all cooped […]

Symbolism and Reflectionism that are Used Throughout ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

As well as the ideas regarding the quote to which it is named, there are many other examples of symbolism and reflectionism that are used throughout ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. A primary example of this reflects around the alleged ‘crime’ and trial of ‘Tom Robinson’, a young and powerful field hand working under ‘Link Deas’. Early in the novel, we learn that he has been accused of raping a young white women, ‘Mayella Ewell”. The details are unclear throughout the […]

The Theme of Coming-of-age in to Kill a Mockingbird

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses diction and symbolism to promote the theme that coming-of-age requires time for reflection to accept the painful truth. In chapter 11, Atticus delivers the news of Mrs. Dubose’s death to Jem to which he responds with the word “well.” Harper Lee uses “well” to imply Jem’s feeling towards Mrs. Dubose’s death. “Well” is a word with a neutral connotation: it does not have a negative nor a positive nuance to it. In […]

Indirect and Direct Characterization on “To Kill a Mockingbird”

“The novel titled, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a story set in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the depression in the 1930s. The story is told by a little six-year-old girl, Jean Louise Finch nicknamed Scout. She is a rebellious girl who has tomboy tendencies. Scout lives with her elder brother Jem, and her father, Atticus, who is widowed. The book follows the family for three years where it discusses the arrest and eventual trial […]

Gender Roles and Gender Prejudice in to Kill a Mockingbird

Have you ever been blocked from doing something because of things you couldn’t control? In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, gender is a big factor in how Scout lives her life. In Scout’s family there is characters that shows expectations to how a girl is supposed to act. Harper Lee uses characters Scout, Jem, and other members of her family to show gender barriers and stereotypes. In the beginning of the novel, you already see Scout start to have […]

Focus on a Character’s Journey in both Homer’s the Odyssey and Harper Lee’s to Kill a Mockingbird

Quite often novels focus on a character’s journey towards maturity and this is evident in both Homer’s The Odyssey and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Bildungsroman is the literary genre that follows a character’s journey from immaturity to maturity, emphasizes a character’s growth, and is displayed through a character’s various physical, mental, social, or emotional traits. Unquestionably, the characters of Telemachus in Homer’s The Odyssey and Jem and Scout Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird represent this […]

Advantages of a Rough Childhood

Abstract How did Oprah and others, who have had a terrible childhood, become such productive and successful adults? In fact throughout the world there are people who have had horrible childhoods yet rose to become productive adults. People such as Benjamin Franklin, Larry Ellison, and many more. There are also examples of this in Harper Lee’s acclaimed novel To Kill a Mockingbird; Consequently, there is research that suggests that having a rough childhood can make a person into a stronger […]

What Makes Atticus a Good Father?

Billy Graham once said, “ A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” This relates to Atticus Finch in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee because he is a very dedicated lawyer that does at times go unnoticed but it valuable to the society around him. Atticus Finch shows that he is a good father through his lessons that he tries to teach […]

How are Jem and Ralph Similar and Different?

Ever read two books and found some similarities and differences between characters or themes? Well, To Kill a Mockingbird character Jem and Lord of the Flies character Ralph have some things in common and some differences. To give a little insight into these novels, To Kill a Mockingbird is a story through a young girls eyes who witnesses her father defend an innocent black man accused of raping a white women during this time people were very racist; in Lord […]

Children Mature and Notice

When children mature and notice both the positive and negative in the world around them, there are always adults to help them understand and offer guidance. In Harper Lee’s coming of age novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch, a young girl, witnesses several events in her small, conservative town that shapes her view on different matters in life. At a first glance, Maycomb County appears to be a peaceful town, however, as crucial incidents occur, Scout begins seeing through […]

About to Kill a Mockingbird
Originally published:	July 11, 1960
Author:	Harper Leeм
Pages:	281
Genre:	Southern Gothic; Bildungsroman
Characters:	Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch

Essays on To Kill a Mockingbird

Dissecting Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird