The Timeless Purpose of to Kill a Mockingbird

Jayden Korber

English H-10

Ms.Emmett

September 20, 2011

The Timeless Purpose Of To Kill A Mockingbird

For over fifty years To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been a highly praised bestseller. Harper Lee uses the novel to educate the reader and the lessons in her story are timeless and will always remain relevant to our lives. Any reader of To Kill A Mockingbird will get an untainted and unprejudiced outlook on our society and many problems that we face as humans. To Kill A Mockingbird is not just an entertaining novel, but a piece of timeless literature that we can use to educate ourselves about the provincialism of our world, and also learn invaluable lessons that we can apply to our own lives.

When writing To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee broke the bounds of a story just being written to entertain the reader. Harper Lee uses her novel to educate the readers and to influence people who read it. As Scout being the narrator, the world is seen through a simple mind that has not been exposed to prejudice and all of the many cruelties of the world. Scout sees the world as it truly is. Lee uses this perspective of an innocent child to show how foolish many adults really are. When reading through each page the reader may slowly see themselves in many of the characters. Harper Lee's real purpose for writing this book was to make people step back and take a look at the way they are acting and the way they compose themselves. When the reader sees themselves in a story they truly get an outsiders perspective on the way they are.

Lee utilizes Atticus in the book to teach Scout and Jem lessons and indirectly teaches the readers lessons. After days of constant harassment from the Finches' cranky old neighbor, Atticus not only advises, but also shows Jem how he should act when faced with a situation like the one he was stuck in. "You just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it's your job not to let her make you mad" (Lee 39). Harper Lee utilizes Jem's shortcomings as an opportunity to educate the reader by having Atticus give him advice. When Atticus is passing wisdom to Jem he is also passing wisdom to the reader. What Harper Lee is trying to say to the reader is that we should not retaliate to the things people do in a bad way. We should treat the ones who are mean and nasty to us with kindness and try to show them we will not stoop down to their level.

Another instance in the book where Harper Lee uses Atticus to convey a lesson to the reader is when Scout has trouble understanding why her teacher punished her on the first day of school. Scout was trying to help a young classmate when she was scolded for being rude. Later in the night Atticus tries to instill a lesson that is punctuated throughout the entire book. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view" (Lee 39). From the trial with Tom Robinson to Arthur Radley, this remains an underlying theme in the story. Lee is trying to tell us that before we take action against someone we need to try to see what they are going through. If we would all take Atticus' advice we would all benefit. These jewels of wisdom Atticus has are not only for his children but also for naive reader.

In To Kill A Mockingbird there are many simple and complex themes demonstrated throughout the length of the novel. One theme that is demonstrated in the entire novel is that you must not judge someone before you really know them. This theme is focused around many of the outsiders of the story. Tom Robinson, Arthur Radley, Ms.Dubose and even Scout herself are all outsiders. At the beginning of the story Arthur Radley is described as a ghoul and is thought of as a creature to the kids. Lee uses the perspective of the children to amplify the rumors about Arthur to the reader. Over the course of the entire novel Arthur Radley begins to become more human, the reader and the children soon realize what was presented at the beginning is not so. At the very end of the novel Scout is recalling a storybook to Atticus. She describes how a group of boys thought that it was a terrifying man ruining all of their fun. When they finally meet the man he is very gentle and kind. Atticus responds to this by