TKAM Essay Prompts

Boo is the target of town gossip and children's pranks, yet the only three things we know for certain he does in the novel are acts of selflessness. Boo puts thoughtful gifts in a tree for the two kids, he puts a blanket around Scout as she watches Miss Maudie's house burn, and he saves Jem's life. The episode with Jem is even more dramatic, of course, because he actually kills Bob Ewell to save the young boy's life. Boo is the epitome of a mockingbird who wants nothing but to live a peaceful life and make music, so to speak, for others. Tom Robinson is another character who is nothing but kind--even to those who eventually turn on him. Even though Tom helps Mayella out of kindness and pity, Mayella is trapped and must accuse him of accosting her to save her own life. Tom has done nothing wrong or improper, yet he is shot--in this case literally, many times--by a society which does not value the word or the life of a black man. He, too, is the embodiment of that innocent bird who wants only to live in peace and sing when he can.

Jem becomes more mature. He is still a boy at the end of the book, but he is working his way into manhood. This is shown through his reaction at the trial of Tom Robinson (he actually cries because of the injustice of the court) and also in the way he doesn't want to play games with his younger sister (who he still sees as a child). Scout is still a child at the end of the novel, but she is beginning to see things from a different perspective. She begins to realize that things aren't always what they appear to be (Boo Radley and Mrs. Dubose are both proof of that).

I'm not sure I would call the battle unwinable at all. Mrs. Dubose did win her battle to be free of morphine. However, she knew that winning the battle would mean nothing in the big picture. She was dying and getting free of the morphine would not change that. The win would prove something about her will, and about her ability to control her own destiny. In Atticus' case, he knows he will lose the original court case. He has no doubt of that. However, he still takes the case and hopes to win it on appeal. Like Mrs. Dubose, he also knows that winning Tom's case on appeal will not win the war against racism. Had Tom not been killed, Atticus likely would have gotten him off on rape charges, but the man would have had to leave town or he simply would have been lynched. So, both people have courage to face an overwhelming obstacle, and both know that winning the battle will not win the war. In that, they both have courage.

In the three years covered by To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem grow up. At the start of the book they are innocents, with an uncomplicated sense of what's good (Atticus, the people of Maycomb) and what's evil (Boo Radley). By the end of the book, the children have lost their innocence and gained a more complex understanding of the world, in which bad and good are present and visible in almost everyone. As the children grow into the adult world, though, they don't just accept what they see. They question what doesn't make sense to them—prejudice, hatred, and violence. So while To Kill a Mockingbird shows three children as they lose their innocence, it also uses their innocence to look freshly at the world of Maycomb and criticize its flaws. Like every kid growing up, Scout attends school for the first time. But rather than contribute to her education, Scout's school is depicted as rigid to the point of idiocy, with teachers who criticize students who got on early start on reading and hate the Nazis but can't see the racism present in their own town. To Kill a Mockingbird does not so much explore standardized school education as condemn it, showing how it emphasizes rote facts and policies designed to create conformist children rather than promote creative critical thinking, sympathy, and mutual understanding across racial and socioeconomic boundaries.

I'm not sure I would call the battle unwinable at all. Mrs. Dubose did win her battle to be free of morphine. However, she knew that winning the battle would mean nothing in the big picture. She was dying and getting free of the morphine would not change that. The win would prove something about her will, and about her ability to control her own destiny. In Atticus' case, he knows he will lose the original court case. He has no doubt of that. However, he still takes the case and hopes to win it on appeal. Like Mrs. Dubose, he also knows that winning Tom's case on appeal will not win the war against racism. Had Tom not been killed, Atticus likely would have gotten him off on rape charges, but the man would have had to leave town or he simply would have been lynched. So, both people have courage to face an overwhelming obstacle, and both know that winning the battle will not win the war. In that, they both have courage.

Lost battle of Tom Robinson Case important to fight for what's right even if it won't help u and may put u in danger In Atticus' case, he knows he will lose the original court case. He has no doubt of that. However, he still takes the case and hopes to win it on appeal. Like Mrs. Dubose, he also knows that winning Tom's case on appeal will not win the war against racism. Had Tom not been killed, Atticus likely would have gotten him off on rape charges, but the man would have had to leave town or he simply would have been lynched. Lost battle of racism

The most obvious one is that an innocent man, Tom Robinson, is convicted of beating and raping Mayella Ewell when it is blatantly obvious that he did no such thing. Another example is Scout's third grade teacher, Mrs. Gates, who tells her class about all the evil things Hitler is doing to the Jews in Germany; however, Scout observes how she overheard Mrs. Gates talking about how happy she was Tom was convicted and that the black folks in the community needed to be kept in their place. Another example is when Scout is sitting down with Aunt Alexandra and her circle of friends. Mrs. Merriweather refers to the northerners as \"hypocrites\" for setting their blacks free but refusing to congregate with them or treat them as equals. She states that down south they have a reasonable way of life - the whites are free to go about their way of life and the blacks are free to go about their way of life. But what Mrs. Merriweather isn't able to see is that the blacks down south cannot go about their own way of life because of all of the Jim Crow laws and discrimination practiced there. A final example is seen in how Aunt Alexandra believes the Finch's family is above most others in Maycomb. Yet, that is not true, for Atticus explains to Scout that their family history is as tainted by racism and insanity and inbreeding as any other family in Maycomb.