Mockingbird

MOCKINGBIRD ESSAY Why is Mockingbird written from Scout ‘ viewpoint. Harper Lee writes mockingbird a story of racial discrimination and acceptance, of innocence, kindness and bravery. Harper Lee was a protégée of the that time in history when American History was infested with racial discernment and subsequent fury. She was greatly influenced by the events of that time. The Scottsboro incident, of the 1930’s (9 African Americans’ had been accused of rape of two white women) The 1955 Omery bus depot incident where Rosa Park refused to give her seat to a white person. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled the discrimination and segregation of America on the lines of color unconstitutional. This ruling led to waves of violence amongst the white and Afro Americans. Why Scout? Why not Atticus Finch the main protagonist be the narrator. As I understand it, the innocence of Scout and the title ‘ Mockingbird’ too is coordinated. The narration of Scout as the story unfolds is of an adult reflecting of the time of growing up, of questioning, of learning, of hurting and of the purity of childhood. A six-year-old finding answers to the ever-encompassing painful world of growing up. Lee portrays Scout or in other words, Scout is an alternate of her, the author herself in the book ‘ Mockingbird’. Is Lee still trying to find answers to the inequalities of the world that still exit? Scout in the book is ever questioning, ever trying to find reasons in an unreasonable world. Sadly, A world that still exits today. Scout reflects back on her childhood, of how the goodness and purity of innocence of growing up years are ever fluid ever changing. Sadly the world does not stand still for anyone and harsh realities of the grown-up world permeates through. The circle of life ever changing. One of the reasons of making Scout the narrator of the story, the Author Harper Lee could be that like Scout, she too reflected back at the time and date of her childhood with the same inquisitiveness and keenness, much like Scout. The Scottsboro Incident much like the Tom Robinson execution could well have triggered the plot of the book ‘ Mockingbird’. ‘ Jean Louise Finch’ ‘ Scout’ of being a proxy for the author Lee herself. Scouts understands that there is a social and financial divide, like when Walter Cunningham cannot afford to eat but finds no reason in her world why? She learns from her father the difference of justice and judgment, the value of education. She learns how to be brave, when Atticus chooses to defend an Afro American wrongly accused of rape. Scout is ever questioning, the good and the evil of her small world. As a narrator when she is an adult, she reflects back on the harsh reality of humanity. Her process of erudition, her courage and of trying to discover right from the wrong. The background of racial bias and segregation was so overpowering that Harper Lee in her Mockingbird, which is synonymous of innocence, is the main stay of her book. The characters of the story Jem and Scout whose innocence is crushed upon like the mockingbirds that are killed for nothing but their laughter. Scout wonders why Tom Robinson was killed when he is innocent. Why is Boo Radley scorned upon just because he is reclusive and different? She learned that the truth and the right is often not recompensed, but doing the right thing is right thing to do. ‘’Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but makemusic for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. ” –To Kill a Mockingbird