More than a half century after its publication, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee’s is often called a “Great American Novel” because of the many memorable and timeless themes she included. The novel, written in 1960 but set in the 1930’s, tells the thrilling story of the Finch family and their tiny town of Maycomb Alabama. Of the many relatable themes Lee examines, innocence is one of the most important because so many of her characters are developed with this theme. In a way she was writing about things in her life. Not the same actions and scenes, but the personalities and development. In Lee’s novel, she leads the reader to consider the theme of innocence through her characters Tom Robinson, Mayella Ewell, and Boo Radley. Lee illuminates
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Mayella is a 19 year old that is sort of controlled by her father. She has to do all the chores around the house, most of all, lie about the Tom Robinson case. It is not Mayella’s fault that she was born into the cruel family. Lee shows the reader that the Ewells are basically as low as it gets. It just turned out to be a ‘bad flip of the coin’ for her. She had no choice, her father made her blame it on Tom. Lee writes on page 204, “She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.” This was the the ending of Tom’s trial at court. Atticus gave it all he could but the white race was too powerful back in the 1930’s. This was the unfortunate reality back then, there was nothing to do about it; it was a small town and rumors went around quickly. Therefor whatever the white’s could 've said about Tom, it would of been too late for Atticus or Tom to fix …show more content…
One of the reasons her characters are so developed and realistic is because Lee based the characters off people she knew. Harper Lee actually admits that she was most like Boo Radley. Many people that have read the book thought that Harper Lee would be portrayed as Atticus, Jem, or Scout. Turns out, she’s not, Lee said she was like Boo Radley. This just gave the reader a little glimpse at what Lee could of been like. Lee created this book in a ‘circular motion’. She started off the book by writing (page 3), “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow… His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right… He couldn’t of cared less, so long as he could pass and punt… We sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.” This quote right here set up the whole book for Harper Lee. From, this quote on Harper Lee tells the story of the events leading up to Jem’s broken arm. Which turns out to be one great story about the small town of Maycomb,
Mayella is a 19 year old that is sort of controlled by her father. She has to do all the chores around the house, most of all, lie about the Tom Robinson case. It is not Mayella’s fault that she was born into the cruel family. Lee shows the reader that the Ewells are basically as low as it gets. It just turned out to be a ‘bad flip of the coin’ for her. She had no choice, her father made her blame it on Tom. Lee writes on page 204, “She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.” This was the the ending of Tom’s trial at court. Atticus gave it all he could but the white race was too powerful back in the 1930’s. This was the unfortunate reality back then, there was nothing to do about it; it was a small town and rumors went around quickly. Therefor whatever the white’s could 've said about Tom, it would of been too late for Atticus or Tom to fix …show more content…
One of the reasons her characters are so developed and realistic is because Lee based the characters off people she knew. Harper Lee actually admits that she was most like Boo Radley. Many people that have read the book thought that Harper Lee would be portrayed as Atticus, Jem, or Scout. Turns out, she’s not, Lee said she was like Boo Radley. This just gave the reader a little glimpse at what Lee could of been like. Lee created this book in a ‘circular motion’. She started off the book by writing (page 3), “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow… His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right… He couldn’t of cared less, so long as he could pass and punt… We sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.” This quote right here set up the whole book for Harper Lee. From, this quote on Harper Lee tells the story of the events leading up to Jem’s broken arm. Which turns out to be one great story about the small town of Maycomb,