Analysis of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”

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“To Kill a Mockingbird” is Harper Lee`s well-known novel, a controversial novel about race relations in America (although the book covers much more territory than just that).
Harper Lee is one of the most famous writers of her time. Lee received the Pulitzer Prize for the novel, but she has not published another book since.

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Analysis of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”

 

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is Harper Lee`s well-known novel, a controversial novel about race relations in America (although the book covers much more territory than just that).

Harper Lee is one of the most famous writers of her time. Lee received the Pulitzer Prize for the novel, but she has not published another book since.

Nelle Harper Lee was born April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, to Amasa Coleman and Frances (Finch) Lee. Lee's father had been born in Butler County, Alabama, in 1880 and moved to Monroeville in 1913. He was the model for Atticus Finch, hero of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Lee attended Huntingdon College, a private school for women in Montgomery, Alabama. She then transferred to the University of Alabama. While a student at Alabama, Lee contributed to several student publications, including the humor magazine Rammer-Jammer. In 1947, she enrolled at the University of Alabama School of Law. Lee traveled to England as an exchange student Oxford University. She left the University of Alabama six months short of completing her law degree, although she later was awarded an honorary degree by that institution.

In 1960 she began to write. An editor helped her transform a series of short stories into the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee's only novel, it was nationally acclaimed, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1961. In 2007 Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The story takes place in in a small town in Alabama.  A white lawyer defended a black man, Tom Robinson, who had been accused of raping a white woman.

The story is told by Jean Louise, Atticus's daughter, who watched the progress of the trial and saw the futility of her father's efforts to win the case.

It is Atticus's speech to the jury that takes up the best part of the text.  He stressed the doubtfulness of the evidence and showed that the facts proved Tom's innocence. The lawyer with his humane views believed in justice, but he did not really believe that the jury would set Tom free. Atticus was sure in his defendant's innocence but Tom had almost no chance to be acquitted, because the white jury would have never believed the black man more than a white woman. Atticus ended his speech with Thomas Jefferson’s words – “all men are created equal”, but he did not agree with it because he was sure that all people were different, but there was one institution where all were equal – it was a court. He did all he could.

Unfortunately it was all in vain- the jury convicted the Negro. The extract finishes with the symbolic picture of Atticus's lonely figure leaving the court-room.

The theme of this novel is very simple. Racial discrimination. This theme remains the notion of prejudice in all of its forms.  Clearly, with the Tom Robinson case, Lee's characters deal with racial prejudice head on.  References to black men as "niggers" and "boys" persist throughout the book.  Black people occupy the lowest class level of  society as  white population of every class waste no time reinforcing their rigid class rules.  The fact that Atticus realizes that he has no chance to win his case defending Tom because Tom is black offers the most explicit indicator of deep-rooted racism.  His closing argument clearly outlines Atticus's views on racism.  However, Lee also shows us prejudice as it pertains to gender and social class.

This story is written in the objective manner. The story was told on behalf of Jean Louise, Atticus’s daughter. It made the story more tense and emotional.

Speaking about the structure of the story, it is represented quite vividly. There is the exposition, which is at the beginning, where the author writes how Atticus presents his speech to the jury. The exposition is followed by the risking – the speech of Atticus. And the climax is the moment, when the main character appeals to people’s feelings and values. The outcome is the verdict which is believed to be unfair. So, we can make a conclusion that this is the anticlimax of the extract. When Atticus finishes, he leaves the court – room, this is the story’s falling, but still being the extract of the novel, it has the open end. In spite of the fact, that the story has the sharp end, the author managed to reveal the main idea of the rigid social divisions and the problem of racial discrimination.

The author realizes the idea on different levels very accurately. She claims all men are created equal. That means all men have equal rights no matter what colour skin he or she has. People think with stereotypes. All Negroes lie, all Negroes are basically immoral beings, all Negro men are not to be trusted around the woman. But the reality can be the exact opposite of it. There are good Negroes and bad Whites. The author used parallel constructions to emphasize how narrow-minded people could be when they generalize. The court is probably the only place where all generalizations should be avoided. It is a crime to find somebody guilty without worthy evidence and proofs.

The most important part of the novel is Atticus` speech, his monologue. Harper Lee reveals the essence of the book in his monologue. The author represents the Atticus’s speech in direct form. If it was represented indirectly, the reader would not hear the lawyer’s voice. On the contrary, the author’s point of view would prevail and the reader could think the author foist his opinion. Atticus words in direct speech have more effect on the reader. It creates such atmosphere as if the reader is in the court himself.

The general atmosphere of this abstract is rather tense. The author keeps the reader in suspense till the very end. The readers take their breath wishing to know that the Negro is innocent. But the author uses the effect of defeated expectancy. In my opinion, the climax in this text is the verdict of the jury. Every “guilty” destroys any reader’s hope for justice.    

In order to emphasize the actions and conditions of the heroes, the author uses the stylistic devices which are admirable. 

The text is rich with repetitions (some people would have us believe – some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity, some people make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others – some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men.). Repetitions and numerous parallel constructions allow the lawyer to seem more persuasive, to make people think over his words, to make his speech more clearly for the audience. 

Moreover stylistic devices are determined by the conditions of communication: jury represents uneducated people. Atticus assures the jury that the case is very simple - with the help of gradation and antithesis: “…this case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant. This case should never have come to trial”. He sums it up by allusive simile: “this case is as simple as black and white’. Then Atticus tells the public his own version of the events. He used antithesis, lexical repetition, epithets. Atticus underlines the absurdity of the case by lexical and syntactical repetition combined with antithesis “She tempted a Negro. She was white, and she tempted a Negro”, and also by an ironical epithet “unspeakable”.

Numerous epithets and similes were used to express the author’s attitude. Epithets give personal appraisal of the author, his individual opinion. He brings an example of schools where the stupid and idle are promoted with the industrious (substantivized adjectives), and then underlines that all men are not created equal, employing syntactical parallelism accompanied by anaphora: “some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity, some man make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others – some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men”.

Atticus ends his speech with Thomas Jefferson’s words – “all men are created equal”, but he does not agree with it because he sure that all people are different, but there is one institution where all are equal – it is a court. The court is “one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president”. Here, the author used the parallel construction which emphasizes the effect of statement. But Atticus understands that the jury can make a mistake because: “The court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up”.

Direct address to the audience by special formulas, special formulas at the end of the speech to thank the audience for their attention, the use of the 1st person pronoun “we” and 2nd person pronoun “you”, the use of contractions, features of colloquial style such as asking the audience questions as the speaker attempts to reach closer contact - all these help us to understand better the meaning of the novel.

Speaking about the peculiarity of Harper Lee’s language, the language of the story mostly formal with use of law terminology, making a reader a participant of the events in the courtroom: medical evidence, witness, court-room, jury, case, guilt of the defendant, cross-examination. This proves that Lee studied at the law school and knew the subject perfectly. Besides, these words create the real atmosphere of the court. It helps the reader to feel the tension of the characters.

In conclusion I would like to say that the novel is full of the deep ideas that everybody should think over. A person must respect others no matter who people are and where they come from. I absolutely agree with the Atticus’s belief that all human beings must be accepted and treated equally. A person's life should not depend on the color of his skin

 

 

 

 

 

 


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