To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee in 1960. It is based on an actual incident the author witnessed when she was a child. In the middle of the 20th century, when racism and its effects on the judicial system, unemployment, and the Great Depression were pervasive in the United States, the book discusses some challenging and complex topics. It also shows how children affected by these issues have morals, show bravery, and speak out against racial and social injustices. The novel is overflowing with purity and kindness. Children socialize through play, look for local adventures, develop, and watch out for one another. Nevertheless, the novel uses various tones and dialogue based on the social and historical context that depicts how slavery was when white people owned black individuals and forced them to work for them.
When black people were owned by white people and made to work for them, that was considered slavery. It sometimes involved laboring on the enormous cotton plantations or farms that dotted the southern states of America. Black people in slavery had no freedom and were not allowed to leave the farm where they worked without permission. The Blacks were not given autonomy and lived with their white owners until they passed away. These individuals were frequently marked with the owner’s name or a number to identify the owner. Slavery was a complicated way of life, especially for those born into it, as they could not experience freedom. Every time someone tried to flee, they were regularly beaten and lynched. Despite the abolition of slavery in 1890, segregation persisted throughout the early and middle decades of the twentieth century.
Context
In the 1930s, when To Kill a Mockingbird was set, Alabama was a notoriously discriminatory state in which black people were viewed as inferior citizens. Both Harper Lee and Scout Finch were tomboys, had fathers who were attorneys, and shared childhood pals who had experienced a great deal of parental abandonment. Harper Lee’s acquaintance Truman Capote, or Truman Persons as he was known in his boyhood, was Scout’s companion Dill (Jassim, 2019). Truman Capote also started writing, eventually releasing the short story Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which was ultimately made into a well-known movie. As Harper Lee became older, she developed a disinterest in fashion and beauty, just like Scout.
Harper Lee showed much greater interest in reading and honing her writing abilities. Harper Lee started studying to become a lawyer but realized this was not her calling. After graduating from college, Lee relocated to New York City and started writing the story that would eventually become To Kill a Mockingbird. After being released in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was awarded the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction (Devi, 2020). Each year, more than several duplicates of the novel is sold. It has been translated into other languages. Countless white people were biased toward black people during the period, especially in the southern states of America. Even though slavery was outlawed in 1890, the opinions of several white individuals about black remained unchanged.
Effect of the Context
In the 1930s, when Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird occurred, black people continued to face discrimination. The book was released six years after the well-known Brown v. Board of Education court decision in Topeka, Kansas, although the novel is set in the 1930s. Desegregation began because the decision established that discrimination in public schools was illegal. Numerous characters in To Kill A Mockingbird are modeled after, or serve as representations of, members of Lee’s family or other individuals she believed were noteworthy or fascinating. For instance, since both Lee and Lee’s father were southern lawyers, Atticus could represent Lee’s father.
Lee experienced countless occasions in Alabama that attracted her to write the story. Black men were falsely accused of sexually assaulting white ladies in Monroeville, where Lee grew up (Kaye, 2020). The black men got severe penalties, with some obtaining death sentences, even though there was little to no evidence in all cases (Altschuler, 2021). Harper Lee may have written the book to illustrate and expose the extreme racism toward Black people and the South’s brutality. Lee may have used it to emphasize the value of children’s innocence. To Kill a Mockingbird reveals the heinous crimes that numerous Southerners committed toward Black people, highlighting the region’s racial hatred. Lee uses the narrative to illustrate to black and white Americans what happens to blacks, whites, and children in traditional society (Sun & Zhou, 2022). The tale also demonstrates how virtually anyone can turn corrupt and how young children can forfeit their priceless innocence. The tale warns everyone in America to change their hostile behavior and end the violence. Lee’s family members are frequently alluded to and referenced through the characters and the parts they play in the narrative.
Use of Two Literary Devices
The two literary devices in To Kill a Mockingbird are tone and dialogue. Throughout the novel, Scout begins to shed some of her purity, and as a result, To Kill Mockingbird’s tone changes from chatty and innocent to somber and sage. The book’s tone is lighthearted and emotional, particularly when Scout recounts several tales from her youth in a small Southern town. It was a time of vague hope, and somehow it was hotter then, are phrases that conjure up images of a kinder, more innocent time. The narrative slows down to focus on the Tom Robinson trial, and the tone shifts to one of seriousness and dread after setting up a tone of nostalgic legend. The tone is further seen in the book when Scout observes snow, her first interaction with school, or the period she shared lunch with a less privileged friend, which creates a remembrance and nostalgic sense of an innocent and more straightforward time. This tone depicts an overview of the Depression period that is undermined in the book.
The story of Harper Lee’s book is presented from the viewpoint of Scout, a young girl named Jean Louise Finch. Early 1900s Maycomb, Alabama, serves as the backdrop for the story. Harper Lee accomplishes three goals by utilizing the author’s skill with dialogue. The three objectives she attempts to accomplish are teaching empathy, advancing a topic, and getting readers to anticipate what will transpire next in the narrative. Harper Lee teaches her reader empathy through dialogue, which is the critical ability for having productive conversations with those going through physical and psychological healing. Building trust and adding humanity to the service, compassionate discussions enable comprehension by recognizing the expressed difficulties, concerns, and emotions of others. Hence, Atticus tells Scout at the start of the book that she needs to have empathy for other people because she got into a fight with Walter Cunningham.
Due to Atticus’ decision to defend Tom Robinson in the face of their racist wrath, amicable individuals like Mrs. Dubose and Mr. Cunningham became hostile. The atmosphere is somber while Scout and Jem watch Tom Robinson’s trial, and the plot focuses primarily on the court proceedings with little involvement from Scout. There are some funny allusions to Scout’s college pageant and her giant ham costume when Bob Ewell attacks Scout and Jem at the novel’s finale, but the incident is recounted horribly. The tone remains dismal after Bob Ewell is killed, becoming more mournful than nostalgic due to Scout and Jem’s brutal awakenings to the terrible facts of life. The statement by Atticus that it is a sin to murder a mockingbird perfectly captures the concept. “…you can try to kill all the bluejays you want, but it is a sin. To Kill a Mockingbird because they do nothing but make music,” the speaker claims (Al-Mamoory & Witwit, 2021, p. 12). In the narrative, Atticus is chosen to represent Tom Robinson, a black man. Racism has unjustly victimized Robinson, who was charged with assaulting Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell’s daughter.
Conclusion
Based on the social and historical background, the story employs a variety of tones and vocabulary to portray slavery, when white people controlled black individuals and made them labor for them. Because of the problems it addressed regarding racial and gender discrimination, Scout and Jem comprehend the misunderstood hermit Boo Bradley and the accused black man Tom Robinson. They, therefore, see the people in their community with compassion and sympathy rather than resentment and wrath, which helps the book succeed.
References
Al-Mamoory, S., & Witwit, M. A. (2021). Critical discourse analysis of oppression in ”To Kill a Mockingbird”. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research, 9(02), 11-24. Web.
Altschuler, B. E. (2021). The Changing Face of Capital Punishment Films: Just Mercy and Clemency. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 49(1), 30-39. Web.
Devi, K. A. (2020). Gender construction in Harper Lee’s to Kill a Mockingbird. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 17(11), 250–254. Web.
Jassim, I. H. (2019). The influence of fathers on family and society: A study in Harper Lee’s to Kill a Mockingbird and Charles Dickens’s Dombey and son. Al-Adab Journal, (130).
Kaye, F. W. (2020). ” I’ve got this vision of justice”: Why To Kill a Mockingbird Is a Fraud. Teaching American Literature, 11(1).
Sun, C., & Zhou, D. (2022). Exploring discipline and resistance in To Kill a Mockingbird from perspective of foucault’s theory of power. In 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021) (pp. 737–744). Atlantis Press. Web.