To Kill a Mocking Bird Essay

Novel
Name: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
I found this novel very intriguing as it is a story about a child’s transition from childhood to adulthood and her experiences throughout this transition making it very relatable to me. It posed various questions about society and life itself. It discusses the ideas of the co-existence between “good” and “evil”, social inequality and “moral” education. The author, Harper Lee, is constantly making the audience question the ideas of the text. Since this novel was written in the 1950’s she is saying that inequality is wrong and people’s morals should be more accepting of others.
The purpose of this novel is to entertain the audience whilst at the same time persuading them towards Lee’s viewpoint. This novel is trying to get the reader to agree with Lee’s viewpoint that inequality is wrong and people’s morals should be more accepting of others. This viewpoint is evident throughout the text. As the purpose of this text is to entertain whilst at the same time inform, there are specific techniques being used throughout the text. When Atticus Finch is in the court room trying to fight for Tom Robinson’s freedom he says that people follow the “evil” assumption that “all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around women”. The author uses repetition because it is enforcing the viewpoint that inequality is wrong and people’s morals should be more accepting of others. At the same time however the repetition and use of italics captures the reader’s attention to keep them entertained. This is very successful at keeping the reader focused whilst at the same time getting across the author’s viewpoint because having the word “all” in italics and repeating it makes the words stick in your head easier and therefore the words are more prominent in your mind. The viewpoint that inequality is wrong and people’s morals should more accepting of others is backed up throughout the novel. A key example of this is after Tom Robinson is charged guilty in court Atticus and Jem, his son, talk about how it is “not right” that he was imprisoned just because he was black. This helps to enforce the viewpoint throughout the text. After reading this text I felt that Harper Lee’s viewpoint made complete sense. Everyone should be treated equally no matter what their skin colour or their cultural background is and people should be more accepting of diversity. This is why the Universal Declaration of Human rights was created. Society was tired of inequality so various countries came together and made a declaration that enforced ideas of equality. I believe that everyone is entitled to be treated equally and that no one should be subjected to moral hate. Therefore I agree very strongly with Lee’s viewpoint.
Ever since my father got involved in fighting for equal rights and freedom in Syria I knew that there were numerous conflicts surrounding inequality and morals. Ever since the start of civilisation there has been massive inequality between races. People from the Middle East had slave markets where they would sell people to others. Even thousands of years later when the United States was being formed the Europeans would buy slaves that had been kidnapped and taken from Africa. It is only a recent development that people have started being thought of as equal. It is only in the twentieth century that women and people from different races were all treated like the white man. In the United States, black people got the right to vote in 1964. Since this text was written in the 1950s, the characters in the text are subject to inequality and bad morals. The “negroes” are treated like trash and even the women are not equal to men in the text. Inequality and moral injustice still exists today around the world. Therefore this text relates to me in various ways. My father is directly involved in the battle going on in Syria. He is fighting for equal rights

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