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There are many characters in To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee that preform heroic deeds. However none quite compare to Atticus Finch whom acts as a Christ figure in the novel. There is not one main reason why Atticus sticks out as a Christ figure but many. One being that he is very selfless. Atticus a white man choses to defend an African American man in a trial during a time period where segregation was very prevalent. This caused a whole lot of controversy but Atticus had to seek justice in this case because he always fights for what is morally right. Knowing in this time period defending an African American man could totally demolish his reputation he chooses to anyway. This just exemplifies how selfless Atticus really is. Another reason Atticus resembles a Christ figure is, being a single father, he was very good with kids. Not all men could pull of what he did being a single dad. His children were exceptionally smart and would always come to him in a time of need of advice. Scout idolized Atticus for everything he did and admired and respected him beyond words. Although Atticus is fairly young he is more wise than most of the elders or attorneys in the community. He fights for what is right and calmly assesses every situation that comes his way in order to fairly judge the problem being given to him. Atticus Finch is strong willed, wise beyond his years, and fights for what is right. All these characteristics further exemplify how Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird resembles one of the many Christ figures in literary history. Cant get enough of Harper Lee? Neither can we click below! Original art by Averie Booth When reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird I couldn’t help but feel she herself was embedded somewhere in the novel. As plot thickened and character analysis depend, the connection between Harper Lee and Scout Finch became closer and closer. Even from the physical description of the two. Both dressed more casual for the time period and much like what we would call today a “tomboy”. Getting on to more mental attributes, both Harper and Scout stand up for what they believe in and if they see wrong doing, do their best to fix it. Both contain a deep curiosity, like Scouts curiosity about Boo Radley. Another attribute the ladies have in common is they both grew up in a time of racial segregation and other controversies. Both ladies were raised in such a time of distress and did not completely understand the means behind it. Much like Scout, Harper had a dad just like Atticus. They both grew up with exceptionally smart fathers who guided them to do what was morally right and to stick up for others. Harper Lee and Scout were never scared to get down and dirty with the truth and fight for justice. Both ladies would never let anyone push them around and were confident in the way they carried themselves. There is much controversy as to why Lee made Scout so much like her but as far as we know there is know there may be no definite answer.
Watch John Green talk about To Kill a Mocking Bird. Click Below! Harper Lee’s Boo Radley and Ken Kesey’s Chief Bromden are both fictional characters with very similar characteristics from not so similar novels. Both Chief Bromden and Boo Radley are victims from isolation, specifically social and self-inflicted isolation. In Chief Bromden’s situation he is in a mental institution where those are not accepted from the outside world. As for Boo Radley he is scared to go out from his house because he is misjudged from society and they have made him to be a monster. Both characters don’t “fit in” society’s idealistic interpretation of how individuals should be even if both novels were written in different time periods. They have thus been socially isolated, Chief Bromden is frowned upon by society and Boo Radley is shunned from his neighborhood. Not only are the boys socially isolated but they also partake in self-infliction isolation. Now this is hard to say why, but it is most likely that they are so unaccepted by society they feel as if they have to isolate themselves. In Chief Bromden’s case he checks him in the mental institution because he has nowhere else to run to. As for Boo Radely, he remains tucked away in his home because he wants to be there because he feels as if he has no other choice. Although both characters are isolated, their courage gets stronger and stronger until they eventually begin to take risks. Boo Radley creeps out of the confinement of his creaky house to give Jem and Scout gifts and eventually to protect them. Chief Bromden take a risk after the death of Mc Murphy to break out of the ward and set himself free. Both characters have other characters that influence their actions. Without Scout and Jem Boo Radley probably would have never left his house. If it went for mc murphy influencing his life Chief Bromden probably would have never gained the strength or courage to break out of the confinement of the ward. Both Boo Radley and Chief Bromden gain strength and courage from those who influence their lives. Lastly, both Boo Radley and Chief Bromden are very self-kept, and quiet. They are more of observers who slowly analyze the world around them. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey would not be the same or nearly as significant without the characters of Boo Radley or Chief Bromden.
From the moment she was born, Harper Lee was brought into the world when racial discrimination was just getting started. Not only did racial discrimination become more and more prevalent but it also began affecting the lives of thousands. In 1931, the Scottsboro Boys trail begin. The boys were nine young black men, falsely accused of raping two white women on board a train near Scottsboro, Alabama. In 1948, President Truman ended segregation in the military and discrimination in federal hiring. 1954 was when the Brown v. Board of Education ruled school segregation unconstitutional. In 1955, Rosa Parks refuses to move for a white man in Alabama. All these events, Harper Lee lived to see and these events aspired her to write the book,To Kill a Mockingbird, that deals with a huge amount of racism and controversies.
A quote from Harper Lee states, “Writing is a process of self-discipline you must learn before you can call yourself a writer. There are people who write, but I think they’re quite different from people who must write”(Lee). Growing up around all these issues, Lee felt it was important to write this book by getting her message/story across to the world. Lee wanted to bring justice to many of the controversies she had grown up with. Lee, having grown up in such a period of distress, didn't know how to help being a white female in the age she grew up in. Latter in her life she came up with the idea of To Kill a Mocking Bird that helped finally get all of her bottled up feelings out in the open through the magic of literature. Some believe Harper Lee was born to write. Ever wondering about Harper Lee? We've got you... Click below! |
About Harper Lee...Harper Lee, born in April 28, 1926, is an American novilist most famost for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Published in 1960, this novel has become a clasic of modern American literature.
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