Analisys

To kill a mockingbird
Harper Lee was an American novelist. She was born in 1926 in the state of
Alabama. She studied law at the University of Alabama, then spent a year in the United
Kingdom, studying at Oxford. Harper Lee has published only one novel, To Kill a
Mockingbird. It received almost unanimous [juːˈnæn.ɪ.məs] critical acclaim and several
awards, the Pulitzer Prize among them. A screen play adaptation of the novel was
filmed in 1962.
Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer who became the prototype
[ˈprəʊ.tə.taɪp] of the main character of the novel. The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird is
based in part on his unsuccessful experience of defense of two African American men
convicted of murder [ˈmɜː.dər].
This book is a magnificent, powerful novel in which the author paints a true a
lively picture of a quiet Southern town in Alabama rocked by young girl’s accusation of
criminal assault.
The extract of the novel, which I’ve analyzed, has no title. But I would call it like
“the word of the human against inhuman one’s” because the author shows us the picture
of trial of a Negro, who was charged with raping a white girl, old Bob Ewell’s daughter.
The charge was based on the Ewells false testimony. Robinson’s words were not even
considered in the trial.
The mood of the text changes at every stage. At first it is atmosphere of
inspiration [ˌɪn.spɪˈreɪ.ʃən], then shock and disbelief and in the end bitterness and
oppression [əˈpreʃ.ən].
The story is represented as first-person narration with piece of description and
monologue [ˈmɒn.əl.ɒɡ]. The narrator is Jean Louise seven-year-old Atticus’ daughter,
who was present at the trial with her elder brother Jem. Thanks to this way of narration,
the reader dips into the atmosphere of the court, feeling like a witness.
The text can be divided into 3 parts:
There is no exposition, but we can guess from the description before the text and
the lower’s speech that it was the Sothern town of Alabama in 20s-30s of XX century.
The complication is Atticus’ emotional speech to the jury. The author uses an indirect
description, we can learn more about Atticus from the behavior of the lawyer during
the speech, his manner of speaking. The author focuses [ˈfəʊ.kəs] the reader's attention
on the actions of Atticus, which, according to Jean, were not typical for him. The author
highlights his daughter's surprise using similes (“this was the equivalent [ɪˈkwɪv.əl.ənt]
of him, standing before us stark naked”, “he was talking to the jury as if they were folks
on the post office”). The author emphasizes the most important moment in Atticus’
speech, using anaphora (“…some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral”), epiphora
(‘…but because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted
in breaking it’), and anadiplosis (‘…she has merely [ˈmɪə.li] broken a rigid [ˈrɪdʒ.ɪd]
and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe [sɪˈvɪər]…’). The author also
uses epithets (a rigid and time-honored code), metaphors (she was broken and social
code) and gradation (‘…that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral
beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women…’) to show the real
feelings of the lawyer in relation to this case.
From all this, we can conclude that Atticus Finch was confident of his client's
innocence [ˈɪn.ə.səns]. The racial prejudices that were so prevalent [ˈprev.əl.ənt] at the
time had no power over him. He is an intelligent, unbiased [ʌnˈbaɪəst], fair person.
Atticus Finch taught his children to respect people regardless of their race. This is clear
from the fact that Finch's children were on the balcony with the Negroes during the trial.
The author gave this name to the main character – Atticus – not by chance-it is
complaint with the names of ancient [ˈeɪn.ʃənt] Greek speakers. His speech is a model
of oratory [ˈɒr.ə.tər.i], he skillfully used facts, gave arguments to support one idea -
Tom Robinson was innocent. In addition, he was not afraid to take up the case of the
Negro in court, despite the fact that the attitude of society towards Negroes in the
southern States at that time was particularly radical, white Americans did not perceive
them as people at all. This reflects that he is a bold and principled man.
The title of the book "to Kill a Mockingbird" is also symbolic. The Mockingbird
is a symbol of defenselessness, it is a small songbird, very trusting and harmless. The
peculiarity of the Mockingbird is its ability to imitate sounds, to be similar to other
birds. Tom Robinson is compared to a Mockingbird, he was also harmless and trusting.
His only desire was to be like white people, to live freely without prejudice. The author
emphasizes this comparison using antonomasia: the Robin is another small bird, it is
also trusting and harmless to humans. The name Tom is very simple, which emphasizes
the kindness and simplicity of the character, as well as very common, the author wants
to emphasize that many people have faced such injustice [ɪnˈdʒʌs.tɪs] and cruelty.
Mayella and Bob Ewell are the image of evil, like their surname sounds. It was
their false testimony [ˈtes.tɪ.mən.i] that put an end to the life of the Negro. Mayella
made a mistake, but decided to shift her responsibility to a person whose guilt no one
would doubt. She lied, knowing that the man was going to die. The author calls her “the
victim of cruel poverty and ignorance”, but doesn’t condone her.
The climax of the story is a jury decision. The author creates emotional tension,
using repetition of the word “guilty” and simile (‘shoulders jerked [dʒɜːkt] as if each
“guilty” was a separate stab between them’).
But the denouement is no less emotional and strong. The Negroes were standing
when Atticus left. They showed respect to the lawyer who defended the rights of one of
them on an equal basis with the whites. He was, if not the only one, then one of the few
people who treated them as equals.
There are several problems, but the main one is the racial prejudice. Tom
Robinson was a victim of stereotypes. If he had been white, he would have got off at
trial. But as Atticus said "When it is a white man’s word against a black man’s, the
white man always wins".
In the end, I would like to say, that, unfortunately, even a hundred years later, this
problem is still relevant in American society. But now it has taken on a more perverse
character. The victims of that discrimination, who really suffered unfairly and endured
[ɪnˈdʒʊə] all insults and abuses, died long ago. People should revere [rɪˈvɪər] their
memory, remember those cruel years so as not to repeat history. But what is happening
now is disrespect and hypocrisy.