Our school is extremely humble, they don’t care about material things like resources for teaching or working computers.

Miss Maudie also credits Aaticus as a Christian by saying “We’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are we have Atticus to go for us.” This shows that Miss Maudie has a very high opinion of Atticus and moreover agrees with his plight in the Tom Robinson. It also reinforcedes the fact that Atticus is characterised as a saviour in the book. Throughout the novel Atticus has seemed to have come to a place drowning in evil and corruption to make a change. This shows Atticus in a very positive light and makes him appear as the main protagonist in the book. This is not done in a obvious manner amd he is not presented like an ordinary hero but it is still clear that he is intended to be seen as a saviour in Maycomb. It is suprising that Miss Maudie can notice that Atticus is doing good as most people highly disagreed with Atticus defending a blackman especially the women of Maycomb but this quote shows that she is different and has an active moral compass.

In chapter 23 we see Jem forming some ideas about society. “There’s four kind of people in our world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbours, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dumb and the Negroes” From this quote we can see that Jem is beginning to sense the inequality in society and realising that despite what is preached not everyone is equal. This teaches us a lot about the way Jem is maturing because it is unlike a child to look so deeply into the way society is structured. It is unusual for two reasons, firstly a child would not contain the maturity necessary to think into something that much and also a child would also have to have been exposed to quite a lot to understand the corruption of the county.

Another sign of maturity that Jem shows is his new found analysis of Boo Radley. “Maybe the reason Boo Radley never comes out, is because he doesn’t want to.” Jem comes to this conclusion about Boo Radley after also stating his opinion about society which implies that he believes that the reason Boo does not want to come out is because je does not want to be exposed to the inequality and the corruption in Maycomb.

Scout is also used as a contrast to show Jems point of view. Scout says “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” Jem replies saying “That’s what I thought too, when I was your age.” contrast between the naivety of Scout and the new found maturity of Jem shows how Jem is a Mockingbird because at first he believes in the American Dream where everyone is equal and then he grows up and his innocence is stolen from him as he begins to realise the sad truth of the world.

Harper Lee satirises by juxtaposing the black and white communitie’s reactions to the courtcase. You can see the extreme contrast between the two societies because the black society shows gratitude to Atticus and they are mournful over the case whereas the white community are busy gossiping and making accusations. “Did Atticus put us up there as a sort of-? Wasn’t it right close up there with all those-? Did Scout understand all the -? Didn’t it make us mad to see our daddy beat?” This quote is Scout talking about how Miss Stephanie was curious of why Scout, Jem and Dill were on the balcony.  We can see from the hyphens that are used that she can’t even finish her sentences because she has so much to ask and enquire about. Another quote that supports this is “Miss Stephanie’s nose was quivering in curiousity” the word quivering connotes that she is so excited about the gossip that she is getting physical reactions to it. If this is compared to the black community where they brought food, which is all they had to give, to Atticus as thanks for his efforts. Ththhis shows how Harper Lee is ridiculing the immaturity of the white people.

The Mockingbird symbol is a recurring motif in the book and it represents someone who has had their innocence taken away from them and has been corrupted by the evil of the world.

Jem is a very clear example of a mockingbird as he shows one of the largest character change in the novel. This shows how his innocence is slowly fading as he gets exposed to the corruption of Maycomb county. In the earlier parts of the novel Scout and Jem’s interaction with Boo Radley becomes a main part of the story. In this part of the book Jem and Scout manage to find a way to communicate with Boo through a tree outside the radley place. However before long Nathan Radley seals up the hole in the tree with cement and claims that it is dying. “Don’t you cry, now, Scout… don’t cry now, don’t you worry” This quote shows how upset Jem is as he is trying to comfort Scout who is not very affected to deal with his own sadness. As a result of this event Jem starts crying at the fact that he knows the only way he was going to be able to speak to Boo is destroyed. I think he also starts to put together that it is not his choice to be locked up inside his home.

Another scenario of when Jem looses his innocence is when the courthouse scene comes to a close. Jem believes that it is clear Tom Robinson is innocent and thinks it’s certain they will win the case. As we know Tom is found guilty because of the racism in the society and it becomes apparent to Jem that this is the reason he is guilty. Although Jem has been exposed to segregation, slavery and false superiority this hits him very hard as he is a trustworthy, kind man who looses his life to racism. This shows us how Jem is a Mockingbird because he is quite naive and innocent at the start of the novel but he becomes exposed to more and more bad things that begin to take away his childhood.

We can learn from Harper Lee’s description of the courtroom lots about the racism of the society in Maycomb. For example the black people had to wait behind all the white people and let them all go into the courtroom before entering themselves; on top of this they sat in separate areas which implies complete segregation. This extreme separation already gives an idea of what the result of the case will be as black people are already seen as inferior in every way. It is also supprising that even white children were seen as supperior to black adults as 4 black men stood up to offer Scout, Jem and Dill seats.

Harper Lee writes this scene in a very interesting way as the processes of segregation that take place seem natural and there is no objection or retaliation showing how embedded it is in their society. This links in to the earlier description of the outside of the courthouse, which talks about how the people of Maycomb are determined to preserve the past and stay with their old ways, because this is showing how broken and dated their society is.

The Ku Kluk Klan was split into three different eras. The first clan was started by a group of six confederate generals and slowly developed in to a clearer hierarchy. The main leader of the first klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest but George Gordon was also a big influence.

William J. Simmons refounded the Ku Kluk Klan in 1915 as a result of the film “Birth of a Nation” which glorified the first knights. This was the Second Klan which Simmons shortly announced himself as the leader of and became known as the Imperial Wizard, a term that dragged on to the third klan. Hiam Wesley Evans who became the imperial wizard  at a later point simply sold the whole organisation to James A. Colescott who took the role of Imperial Wizard but didn’t do much with the group.

Later Klans were more independent and still exist today but they mainly came about to deal with the changing social positions of black people. Bull Conner was the police chief in Birmingham at the time and he was allied with the klan. When the freedom riders came to Birmingham the police gave the Klu Kluk Klan 15 minutes to attack them before they intervened.

This passage of To Kill a Mockingbird is different to most of the book as it involves the older scout speaking, which can be inferred from the maturity and deepness of the discription. It is definitely not the discription of a 9 year old girl.

The passage contains lots of symbolism often referring to the social systems of Maycomb county “The concrete pillars supporting the south roof were to heavy for their burden”. This quote is talking about how the parts of the building built after the courthouse burned down are much weaker then the older parts and the pillars appear unnecessarily strong for the the weak roof above. However if you look deeper into this quote you can begin to notice that some of the things described are linked to other elements of the book. For example the concrete pillars represent the old ideals of the greeks and their supposedly perfect democracy. The roof shows how the society in Maycomb is an attempt to match up to the old ideals and form of democracy but clearly from this quote alone you can tell that it is failing. Despite theur attempts to stay in the past they can not co.pco.pare the stone pillars are to heavy for their burden. It is impossible for this level of deep symbolism and language to be said by a child so we can connote that this is said by older scout or possibly even Harper Lee coming through herself.

“Greek revival columns clashed with a nineteenth century clock tower housing a rusty unreliable instrument” This other quote is more direct however there is still a lot to analyse in it. The first part of the quote shows how the two eras clash and we can tell from this that the attempt to conserve the past is not going as well as they think. Their desperation to live in the past directly relates to the racism and other dated views like the roles of women in the book. The second part of the quote talks about the clock. It is referred to as a rusty unreliable instrument which is ironic seeing as it is part of the new renovations.  I can see that this is sayong how flawed their society is and how it is beginning to break down very quickly. I personally think this is more interesting as it is a clock that is being talked about, when there are so many references to the past. I interpret that this is saying their attempts to latch on to old traditions are failing, hence the clock failing.

Throughout To Kill a Mocking Bird Harper Lee makes her opinion apparent through the characters closer to Scout. She uses the characters that she designs to be likeable and popular with the reader to portray her point of view because it’s more likely to be accepted from a respectable character. For example Atticus is a likeable character and he is definitely the character who makes his views and morality obvious the most. Atticus often gives his opinion to Scout as a father and within words of guidance, “

They were on to me; any distraction could lead me into their hands. Scurrying my brain for any method of escape I almost killed myself in frustration at the fact that the only thoughts in my head were curses of the most recent government broadcast speach. As I was approaching the American City Market and I realized the fatal reality that if I had any chance to escape it would be threw the croud. I had to loose them quickly, any tactic that I thought of was quickly eradicated by one factor or an other. I tracked back to my time at the academy. I was almost certain my training would bring about a plan. I scoured my brain for anything, a glimpse of an opportunity to get away, but still nothing.

Think. I was sure the harsh conditions, combined with the heat from my jum… My jumper! Laughing at my stupidity, I walked casually into the croud. I stripped of my blue jumper and through it onto the side of the road. Now I actually do feel grateful for this t-shirt from my mum. There wasn’t long left of my journey.

“Next to of course God America i” The thought wistled through my head along with a wave of amger that brought about a deep pain in my left temple. “I love you land of the pilgrims and so forth oh” This time the anger and pain was worse. With all of my stresses this is the last thing I wanted to be thinking about. The speach cont