To Kill A Mockingbird Diction Analysis

Words: 532
Pages: 3

Any person who speaks on record in a court of law takes an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. However, some people’s truths are worth more than others’. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch states, “our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.” Through diction and symbolism, Lee proves that an African American man could never stand equal to his white counterparts.

Lee uses diction to prove the lessened weight of a black man’s words throughout the entire book by the heavy presence of the word ‘nigger.’ Lee sets the scene for Maycomb being a place filled with racial prejudice long before the trial begins with the absence of hesitation when Scout says ‘nigger.’