Lennie gripping the dress and squeezing even harder demonstrates his lack of mental intelligence and physical harassment. This example shows a mental example of Lennie. Lennie does not understand so his mental and physical traits take over. A second example is when Lennie on two different accounts kills a baby rabbit and then a pup. Lennie’s physical strength is an extreme form of physical harassment.
“Overzealous officials” grill suspicious foreigners “to the point of near panic” (Khan 559). In worst cases, death has occurred Haitians seeking refuge, a man was not allowed to keep his medication while he was put in Krome (Danticant 569). The profiling does not only happen with officials, but many Americans often profile foreigners. Americans heightened suspicion on not only non-Americans, but on Americans with Middle Eastern traits. Americans know “racial profiling is both morally wrong and ineffective”, but they rather be safe than sorry (Chavez 563).
Mockingbirds are innocent in the sense that they do nothing wrong, but yet they are destroyed by vicious gossip and painful actions. Tom Robinson was seen as guilty and destroyed by false accusations, leading him to an early death. Boo Radley is seen as a fearful, dreadful person through town gossip and put through years of torment from Maycomb citizens. In the end, Boo finds the courage to leave his house to save Jem, only making rumours start again. Tom and Boo are both social outcasts, yet live in completely separate worlds.
Mrs. Stinger Boo Radley- The mysterious Arthur Radley is blamed for virtually any unexplainable act in Maycomb. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Because of his past history of apparent mental instability and the forced seclusion within the Radley House that his father strictly enforced, he is accused of everything from being a peeping tom to poisoning pecans. There is no evidence or witnesses to any of these accusations, but rumors persist throughout the town, making Boo a man with no friends or expectations for a better future. The jury- Tom Robinson is accused of rape by a white family, the Ewells, who have been, according to Atticus, "the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations."
The Light in Maycomb In a town filled with poverty, racism and hate is a tiny bit of hope that lies on the shoulders of the honest Atticus finch. He is the defender of all that is good and pure in Maycomb. But with good there is always evil, and Mayella happens to fall in the evil category. She herself isn't necessary sinister, but the actions she commits only fuels the hate and prejudiced of the town which eventually condemns a man. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, there are two very distinctly different groups, the group of good and then the group of evil.
The death of someone close is always difficult, but to happen so unexpectedly and at such a young age, the effect would most likely be much worse. This seems to lend credence to the theory that Rat was driven insane, which would explain his actions, but this does not seem to fit. Someone who was crazy or only out to cause pain would not have attempted to feed the buffalo at first, or shown any signs of remorse, whereas at the end, “Rat Kiley was crying. He tried to say something, but then cradled his rifle and went off by himself” (O’Brien 79). But, the loss of Curt Lemon does begin to support the claim that Rat was in a very emotional
Moore uses words like hawk, “wisdom”, unsuspecting, gleefully. Hawk makes a negative annotation of a ruthless swindler who preys on unsuspecting victims, while; using unsuspecting turns citizens into victims of a crime. He uses quotations to imply a sarcastic tone to the word wisdom implying its not real wisdom. The word gleefully makes Fred look like he enjoys preying on unsuspecting citizens. Moore ends his statement “Grow up, get some books, and go to your room.” His word choice implies that Barnes has not grown up and Moore is grounding him for doing something bad as if Barnes is still a kid.
Atticus may be portrayed as good, but he has his doubtful moments. Then, there is Bob Ewell who is seen as a monster throughout the book through the reader’s eyes because of his violent ways. “Somehow, I could think of nothing but Mr. Bob Ewell saying he’d get Atticus if it took him the rest of his life” (Lee 262) This shows that Bob Ewell is violent in his ways and portrays the evilness of the themes when he tried to harm the Finch children when he had wanted to get back at Atticus. A man is lower than life when he tries to harm a child especially his own or those who had nothing to do with his
Through the innocent eyes of Jem and Scout the world seems full of good. The only evils they know are “hot spots,” or ghost, which they both deny believing in and the mysteries of the Radley’s, their creepy neighbors, whom they avoid at all cost. When their father is assigned to defend an African American man accused of raping a white girl some of the town turns against him. Jem and Scout are forced to experience the harsh evil side of some people. By the end of To Kill a Mocking bird they both have grown to a more mature understanding of good and evil, and the importance of looking for the good in people and accepting
They do hear plenty of rumours though from characters in the novel, building an aura of mystery and fear around Boo. The themes that Arthur Radley brings out include fear, compassion & forgiveness and youth. It brings out the theme of fear because the citizens of Maycomb are all scared of Boo and gossip and tell rumors about him like “Radley pecans would kill you” (Lee 11), “A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked” (Lee 11), “People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped into windows” (Lee 10), “When people’s azalea’s froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them” (Lee 10) and “Any stealthy small crimes in Maycomb were his work” (Lee 10). The portrayal of Arthur Radley reveals the theme of compassion & forgiveness because at the beginning Scout and Jem think Boo is a “malevolent phantom” (Lee 10) and later in the novel they begin to realize that Arthur is a really good person and he just wants to help out. Jem realizes this when he says, “…he ain’t ever harmed us, he ain’t ever hurt us, he coulda cut my throat from ear to ear that night but he tried to mend my pants instead” (Lee 96).