Literary Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper

Literary analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Lee Harper, first published in 1960 by J. B. Lippincott Company. 323 pages.

Main Character

Scout is a very extraordinary little girl, both in her social position and in her own qualities. She is remarkably confident (she fights boys without fear), she is remarkably intelligent (she learns to read before beginning school) and remarkably good (she wouldn’t harm a fly).

“Teach me?” I said in surprise. “He hasn’t taught me anything, Miss Caroline. Atticus ain’t got time to teach me anything.” I added, when Miss Caroline smiled and shook her head. “Why, he’s so tired at night he just sits in the living-room and reads.”

“If he didn’t teach you, who did?” Miss Caroline asked good-naturedly. “Someone did. You weren’t born reading The Mobile Register.” (Page 19)

With in mind her social status, she is exceptional for being a tomboy in the prim and proper Southern world of Maycomb.

In the beginning of the book, Scout is a usual, good-hearted five-year-old child who has no experience with the evilness of the world. As the book progresses, she has her first contact with evil in a racial prejudice, and the basic development of her personality is determine by the question of whether she will grow into a better person or destroyed like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley.

Atticus, Scout’s father, is a very wise man who is respected by the people in Maycomb. He is older than other fathers in the community and therefore both Jem and Scout is embarrassed of him. Scout learns, thanks to Atticus’s wisdom, that though humankind has a huge capacity for evil, it also has a great capacity for good, and that evil often is subdued if someone approaches others with sympathy and understanding.

Throughout the book Scout develops into a person that whatever evil she meets, she will keep her conscience without becoming cynical. At the end of the book Scout is still a child, but her perspective on life develops from an innocent child into a near grown-up.

Scout find it hard to dress and behave like a girl that everyone in the community expect her to be because she’s born a lady. She don’t wear dresses like the other girls and she’s not afraid to get dirty with the boys in the mud. In chapter 13 their Aunt Alexandra stays and live with the family for a while because Atticus and Aunt Alexandra thinks Scout need some feminine influence.

“We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years, Jean Louise (Scout), before you become interested in clothes and boys—“(page 145)

The family consists of Jem (the son), Scout (the girl), Atticus (the father) and Calpurnia which is the loyal black housekeeper for the family. Scout’s main motivation is her childish curiosity to understand the world she lives in.

Scout’s role in the book is both as questioner and observer. She is also important in the novel because her child’s innocence draws attention to the injustice and racism in Maycomb.

Main Theme

The most important theme of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is the moral nature of human beings which is, whether people are intrinsically good or intrinsically evil and that you shouldn’t judge people.

Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

“Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Page 103)

The moral voice is in Atticus Finch, who is unique in the novel because he has experienced and understood evil without losing faith in humans seeking for goodness.

Atticus understands that most humans have booth good and bad qualities. The important thing is trying to see life from their perspective and appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy, Atticus is able to admire Mrs. Dubose’s courage even when she advocates her racism.

He tries to teach his moral lessons to his children and to show them that it’s possible to live a life without losing hope or becoming cynical. Atticus is a excellent teacher because he has a good ability to put himself in his children’s shoes.

“I didn’t say not to be nice to him. You should be friendly and polite to him, you should be gracious to everybody, dear. But you don’t have to invite him home.” (Page 257)

The story offers a reflection for the moral dilemmas we each one encounters in daily life.

Lee Harper send’s various types of messages trough this novel. People should be judged on their actions and behaviors and not according to who they was born as or from what family they came from.

The Tom Robinson case, where Tom, a black man, is falsely accused of raping a white woman called Mayella, is a good example of that message. Tom Robinson is a mockingbird. He is a well behaving citizen who has in no way harmed or interfered with anybody and is directly shot by society not in justice but because of prejudice.

The general lesson in To Kill a Mockingbird is that every human being deserves to be treated with dignity and respect but also to not judge people so quickly.

Language

The language of To Kill a Mockingbird is mostly conversational and humorous, but also very advanced. At the beginning of the book the language is complex and raised but once past the first chapter the language reverts to a more childlike narration with elegant metaphors and frank statements.

Throughout the novel, Scout presents herself as a character accustomed to being misunderstood by, wry, and keeping secrets from adults. She addresses though the reader as a trusted confidant.

The style of the book is confiding and warm and the intimate, confessional style of the novel creates reliability and trust in the narrator.

The book also includes a large amount of Southern vernacular such as, “gonna”, “lem-me” and “I reckon” to show the ways the people all belong to the same community but different positions due to education and class.

“C’mon, Dill, I said. “You all right, now?”

“Yeah. Glad to’ve matcha, Mr. Raymond, and thanks for the drink, it was mighty settlin’.” (Page 230)

The Finches are more educated than others in the community and tend to use long words such as “provocation”. Their housekeeper, Calpurnia, speaks like the Finches in their home, but when she is around people that she was born with she speaks a more vernacular style. The least educated people in the community are unable to shift speaking styles like the Finches.

The southern language influences in the novel made a positive impact on the overall reading experience throughout the book. I think that Lee Harper wrote this novel in such style as I’ve mentioned before just so that her message should reach the readers as clearly as possible.

This novel is a book that everyone should read sometime in their life, the message trough the story have a important meaning to life in general.