Fateh Hayat

4th hour
1/10/15

Literary Analysis Essay on To Kill a Mockingbird

What moral values does an individual have? The environment of a person along with the
their upbringing can determine if a person will make right choices or wrong choices as he or she
grows up. To Kill a Mockingbird portrays how the environment we live in affects the way we
think of others. Also the book explains how every individual in a community has a good side to
them as well as an evil side. Such as throughout the book, white people believe that they are
superior to black people, so they are the hierarchy of this community; which has led to inequality
between the two sides.The black people of the community are treated unfairly by whites; but
after a while this type of lifestyle becomes regular for a community so it becomes a way of life.
Atticus guides Jem and Scout to have a positive influence on the community and support what is
right. Harper Lee shows how the setting and environment of the story impacts the social
inequality along with the moral values of individuals. As Lees To Kill a Mockingbird
progresses, Jem and Scout slowly mature which leads them to rapidly change their ideas about
racism, people, and a community
Through out the book the reader sees that the white people of Maycomb have a steady
conflict with the black people of the community because the whites feel as if they are superior to
blacks. This lifestyle is brought up from further conflicts along the lines of slavery. Since slavery,
whites have felt as if they are better than blacks; since blacks were considered property of
whites. As years went on this mindset led to constant conflict between the two races. Rebellion

was starting to show from the blacks because they wanted to get treated fairly; this leading to
further and more serious tension between the two groups. This story takes place in the south;
where slavery used to be thriving and was the heart of agriculture. After slavery ended there was
a grudge between the two sides, we can clearly see this in the book. Many people such as Mrs.
Dubose show hatred for the black people in her society, Your fathers no better than the n*****s
and trash he works for! (Lee 135). Clearly, this shows the amount of hatred an old women has
for black people, even though blacks never harmed her in anyway. The reader can infer that the
way Mrs. Dubose was brought up is a contributor to why she dislikes black people. She keeps
the conflicts with black people always inside her, probably because her parents influenced her to
think of black people in such a way. Unlike Mrs. Dubose, Scout is being influenced by Atticus
who enforces Scout to not to think of black people as bad people but as equal human beings.
Also Jem and Scout are always around Calpurnia who is a black house maid; along with Atticus,
she also teaches moral values to Scout and Jem usually on their behavior and their perspectives
about others. Atticus teachings along with Calpurnias kind heartedness leads Jem and Scout to
respect and show equality to black people. They also understand that it is what people do that
makes them bad or good; not their skin color.
Every human has his or her own opinion about a topic; some people think of things with
a positive outlook while some think negatively. All people have different intentions, such as
Atticus is a man who tries to be the best human being that he can become. He teaches Jem and
Scout to picture themselves to be in another persons shoes and understand their perspective on a
topic. While other people in the same community such as Bob Ewell do not care about other
people, Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None
of them had done an honest days work in his recollection (Lee 40). Ewell only looks for his

own advantages, leading him to lie and blame others for his actions. Bob Ewell is the type of
man that is willing to harm children for his revenge or personal advantages. At the trial Mr.
Ewell felt as if he was embarrassed by Atticus; since Atticus had very good evidence that
supported Tom Robinson. After the trial he promised to himself that he will get revenge from
Atticus sometime soon, Somehow, I could think of nothing but Mr. Bob Ewell saying hed get
Atticus if it took him the rest of his life. Mr. Ewell almost got him and it was the last thing he
did (Lee 358). This shows how the evil of a person can get the best of him. Humans have two
paths that they can go on, one is the path of goodness where humans make the right decisions;
which will lead to happiness and peace. The other path is the path of evil where people make
wrong decisions; this is where people feel as if they need to get revenge and have wrong
intentions in life. They get angry and support harming another individual. Jem and Scout learn
this and realize that some people have goodness in them while some have evil distilled in them.
They learn to be acquainted with people of clean hearts and also realize to make the right
decisions for themselves and everybody in their community.
In an active community, traditionally ideas are shared with one another. Most of the time
the ideas that are shared are important news such as severe weather, pop culture, or local issues.
When ideas and viewpoints are shared by one persons perspective, generally people agree with
them because of the lack of knowledge they have on the subject. This is most likely what made
most whites against Tom Robinson in the trial. One white person may have talked bad about Tom
Robinson while meeting a group of people, even though it may be a lie. The other people in the
group will most likely believe that individual and will now label Tom somewhat associated as
bad. Eventually this spreads throughout the community, some people completely support the
false information given by an individual; while some do not believe them. Another example of

this is Boo Radley; nobody really knows why Boo is a recluse but people spread their false
judgement of him. Eventually leading to a community judging him as a whole. Jem and Scout
were curious about Boo Radley so they went off and asked local neighbors for information about
him. Atticus would not say much about the Radleys, so Jem and Scout went to Miss Stephanie
Crawford for some information, According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the living
room cutting some items from The Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father
entered the room. As Mr.Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parents leg, pulled
them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities (Lee 13). When children such as
Jem and Scout hear this type of story about a person they have never met or seen; obviously they
are going to think that he is a psycho or that he has mental instability. Even though this might not
be his personality, rather it is a hoax. Jem and Scout are most probably going to tell all their
friends about this story which will lead to a whole generation in the community judging him as a
dangerous person. This is not fair to Boo who may have a different reason for staying home most
of the time. Now Jem and Scout believe that Boo is a ugly monster type person that will kill any
kid that he catches. However, they would be proven wrong because when Bob Ewell tries to kill
Jem and Scout, Boo saves their lives. All this time they falsely judged Boo by thinking he is a
monster. In conclusion you cannot judge a person by their appearance or what other people say
about them, if you have not met them it is very wrong to judge them. Scout learns this overtime,
she also learns to imagine to be in their shoes and how they would feel. This is the type of
message that Atticus was trying to give to Jem and Scout all along.
In conclusion an individual's reasoning for their opinion about something can factor in a
lot of elements. Such as their environment which is a huge factor regarding the thought of an
individual. The environment or community can persuade a person to think in a certain type of

way. Parenting is another huge factor, what parents teach their child may have a lasting impact
on their lives. This can also determine whether or not they see goodness and evil in other people.
Such as Atticus emphasizes to always be good and make the right choices. All together it is clear
to the reader that Harper Lees intent on writing this book is to show the audience moral values,
and emphasizes the difference between right and wrong. She does this by showing how a little
girl, Scout, discovers evil as she is growing up and is exposed to it. As Jem and scout grow up
they begin to see how the world can be different from their views.

Works Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1960.