To Kill a Mockingbird Analysis Essay

📌Category: Books, Literature, To Kill a Mockingbird
📌Words: 1210
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 10 June 2021

To Kill a Mockingbird chronicles the lives of two young children in the sleepy town of Maycomb, where the world’s injustices unfold before their eyes. Whether it be the towering heights of racism that pervade Maycomb or the disdain of the people, the world mercilessly rears its ugly head on Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch and his sister, Scout. Although they cannot help but feel disheartened over society’s bigotry at first, the two children eventually come to see what brews beneath the surface. They see that the people they once could only despise fight demons of their own, and they eventually gain the wisdom and insight to empathize with them. Miss Dubose, for instance, seemed to be nothing more than a cross old woman. She often shamed the children’s father, Atticus, and cursed him for defending a Negro in court, which bothered Jem so much that he destroyed her beloved camellias in retaliation. However, he ignored the tremendous pain that Dubose endured in silence. She fought strenuously to die free of her morphine addiction, which Jem was far too irascible to realize. After her death, though, Atticus explained to Jem how she was the most courageous person he ever knew, how she was so powerfully determined to hold on to her principles that she suffered unspeakable pain to do so. This reveals the chapter's overarching coming-of-age theme that tribulation can only be resolved with great determination, which Harper Lee expresses through a variety of literary elements.

First and foremost, Lee’s keen use of symbolism communicates that adversity must be combated with courage and grit. When Miss Dubose discovers that Jem scythed her camellias in a blind fit of rage, she simply taunts him: “Thought you could kill my Snow-on-the-Mountain, did you? Well, Jessie says the top’s growing back out.” (146). If Jem’s furious savagery in destroying Dubose’s camellias is meant to allegorically represent the adversity that plagues her life, the reblooming camellias, then, symbolize Dubose’s unrelenting fortitude in overcoming those towering struggles. To elaborate, Jem may have been able to cut every single camellia bush in Dubose’s yard, but he could not stop them from inevitably growing back; in the same way, Dubose may have fallen into a spiral with her addiction, but that could not stop her from ultimately dying free of its clutches. Ergo, the reblossoming of Dubose’s camellias are used to express her bravery in overcoming her morphine addiction. In another instance of symbolism, Miss Dubose gives Jem a little box at the end of her life, wherein lay “a single white camellia,” representing her culminating triumph in leaving the world “beholden to nothing and nobody.” Even from the land beyond the living, Dubose was still able to tease Jem one last time, showing him that if a drug addiction was not enough to hold her back, neither was his laughable folly. At first, Jem construed this gesture as nothing more than humiliation, but he eventually realized that, above all, that flower was just a little lesson, a parting gift. In brief, symbolism is used significantly in this chapter as a medium to display the concept of triumph over hardship.

To continue, by using the conflicts that arise across the chapter, Lee effectively conveys the theme of resolve. For instance, Jem receives a few final pieces of insight on courage—as Atticus explains, “I told you that if you hadn’t lost your head I’d have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her-I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand” (149). This quote addresses a few particular conflicts that drive the story towards its eventual theme, the first of which being Jem’s internal struggle. Throughout the entirety of the chapter, Jem is too short-tempered for his own good. His uninhibited rage severely clouds his judgment as he is far too angry with Dubose to realize and understand her extreme commitment to her beliefs. In that regard, Atticus eventually enlightens Jem on just how strikingly resolute she was. Thus, although Jem’s self-conflict does not overtly express the overarching theme of perseverance and courage, it does serve to direct the plot towards it. Furthermore, Jem’s strife with Dubose conveys the theme in a very similar fashion. It frames Jem as an ignorant fool and Dubose as a rude woman. Jem destroys her camellias, yet Dubose continues to insult him and his family at every turn. Through it all, Jem is only able to see the ugly, brazen side of Dubose until Atticus intervenes in his aforementioned discussion with Jem. It is then when the reader realizes that the twists and turns of the chapter’s conflicts all lead to the same outcome: the reveal of the theme. Therefore, it is evident that Harper Lee utilizes conflicts to guide the chapter towards its ultimate theme of courage.

Lee’s implicit characterization demonstrates how an affliction can only be overcome through endurance and bravery. For example, as Jem begrudgingly reads to Dubose, Atticus comes into her home explaining that he is simply looking for his children, to which Dubose replies, “Do you know what time it is, Atticus? ... Exactly fourteen minutes past five. The alarm clock’s set for five-thirty. I want you to know that” (145). For context, Miss Dubose sets an alarm clock that sounds later and later each day. The alarm dictates how long she refrains from her morphine. Thus, in this instance, Dubose shows inspiring persistence; she clearly has a goal in mind and refuses to cut any corners. She establishes that she will not succumb a moment too soon in spite of her overwhelming pain, displaying immense courage. With this taken into account, Lee’s characterization of Miss Dubose quite clearly expresses the idea of strength in the face of difficulty. Another display of characterization occurs here, as Scout narrates, “When the three of us came to her house, Atticus would sweep off his hat, wave gallantly to her and say, ‘Good evening, Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening’” (133). This portrays Atticus as a kind, well-mannered man, even to Dubose, whom the kids regard as a “hell-devil”, as previously established. Atticus courageously puts on a facade, acting with grace despite all of Dubose’s brash deprecation. He lets nobody, particularly not Miss Dubose, get under his skin. Above all, he sets his feelings aside in order to serve as a role model for his two children. He knows better than they do the cruelty of the world around them, and he knows better than they do the hate they will inevitably receive. However, instead of acting upon the world’s harsh realities, he moves past them undeterred. Thus, the characterization across the chapter promotes the notion of showing perseverance in the face of harm. 

In essence, Harper Lee expresses the notion that it takes resilience and courage to overcome suffering using a wide array of literary elements. For instance, she ascribes symbolic importance to the camellia flower; she further uses Jem’s conflicts with both himself and Miss Dubose to drive the story towards the theme, and she characterizes the prominent characters of the passage to the same effect. Furthermore, this theme is not only significant to the characters but to the reader as well. Harper Lee does not convey such a monumental theme to simply propel the plot of the novel. Instead, she uses it to preach to humanity a message it needs immensely, as the world has no shortage of problems, no shortage of trials and tribulations to overcome. To Kill a Mockingbird was written during the Civil Rights Movement, one of the most tumultuous times in American history, and Lee made her contribution to the world by delivering this momentous idea. With this message, it then becomes humanity’s responsibility to face its hurdles, to face them with courage.

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