Literary Analysis

Literary Analysis
November 24, 2010
English IV, Block 7

“As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it- whenever a white man does that to a black man no matter who he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”
To Kill A Mockingbird was written by Nelle Harper Lee in 1960. The novel not only reveals prejudice but also examines the nature of prejudice, how it works, and its consequences. It accomplishes this by staging the main characters, Scout and Jem, from a perspective of childhood innocence to a more realistic adult perspective, into the understanding of the world. The most obvious form of discrimination in To Kill A Mockingbird is racism; however, there are other types of prejudice and discrimination.

Harper Lee portrays the nature of prejudice   by dramatizing the main characters into a mature change from their childhood innocence. Scout and Jem have never experienced evil themselves; they assume that all people are good by nature. As the book progresses, Scout and Jem experience things from an adult point of view and have a better understanding of the world.

Harper Lee has done a very well job with portraying the hatred, prejudice, and ignorance that innocent people have had to deal with. Jem and Scout are young children that have no awareness over why people can not all get along. These children are victimized as the trial with Tom Robinson occurs and their childhood innocence is destroyed.

In the end, Scout is able to still have some faith in human nature, even though she believes that the conviction of Tom Robinson was extremely unfair. On the other hand, Jem is very emotional about the outcome of this situation. He no longer has any faith in truth, justice, or humanity. He does not understand why any of this had to happen. Prejudice and racism is still a mystery to him.

Atticus Finch, on the other hand, has had experiences that...