Surname1 Name ELIT2055A Essay1 June 12, 2017 To Kill a Mocking Bird Introduction Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960. The book’s characters and plot are based on Harper’s observation of her own family in her Alabama hometown when she was 10 years old. The role model of the novel is Harper’s father Atticus Finch who deals with the issues of rape and racial inequality portrayed in the novel in a warm and humorous way. This paper seeks to analyze the use of characterization in Harper’s novel. Characterization Characterization refers to how the people in narrative works are represented. Characterization is divided into indirect characterization where readers are invited to infer qualities from the characters dialogue and actions and direct characterization whereby qualities are attributed in commentary or description. The novel To Kill a Mocking bird uses various tools of characterization such as actions, direct characterization, speech and dialogue and family life to build its plot as analyzed below. Actions Despite the characters’ words in the novel, they show what they are really made of through their actions. According to Harper (16.5), her father says that Mr Underwood hates Negroes and would not be caught dead with one. But when a violent mob threatens Harper’s father and Tom, Surname2 Mr Underwood arms himself with a shotgun with the intention of defending them from the mob. Furthermore, when Tom dies Mr Underwood writes a good article in his editorial in The Maycomb Tribune about tom despite his previous statement that he hated Negroes. His article in the Maycomb Tribune appeared to favour Tom more than the opinions of the rest of the Maycomb citizens. Direct Characterization Harper’s To Kill a Mocking bird summarizes its characters in a few words. For example Miss Stephanie Crawford in the novel is referred to as ‘a neighborhood scold’ (1.50). According to the novel (1.14), Mrs. Dubose is summarized as ‘plain hell’ and Boo Radley is painted as a ‘malevolent phantom’ (1.43). Atticus Finch is portrayed as a ‘nigger-lover’ in the novel through his actions of treating the African-American natives as equals. Mr. Underwood can be summarized as ‘a hypocrite’ by the contradictions between his words and his actions concerning the AfricanAmerican community. Though these depictions of the novel’s characters are accurate, the characters appear to have more complex depictions considering their actions in the novel. The depictions of the characters become nuanced and complex as the novel continues. As seen by Mr. Underwood’s actions when a crowd tries to harm Tom and Atticus and after Tom’s death. He shows compassion and that unlike the rest of the Maycomb citizens, he is racially woke and classifies Negroes as equals. Family life In the novel (13.26), Aunt Alexandra trusts that every family in Maycomb has a ‘streak’ but on further analysis of the characters home lives, they appear to support Aunt Alexandra’s statement. Atticus Finch cares about doing what is right more than making the Maycomb citizens Surname3 believe that he does so. His action of building an image of Mayella’s saddening home life during Tom’s trials shows the jury that Mayella is very lonely and can latch onto anybody who shows her a little empathy and kindness. Boo also faces an enigma in his family life, he is constantly wondering whether his family are his jailors or protectors and whether his own home serves as his prison or his refuge. Speech The manner in which the novel’s characters talk tells the reader more than what they actually say. In Maycomb, the word ‘nigger’ stands as a constant racial marker of where each of the Maycomb citizens stands. In the novel, the word makes an appearance when Scout narrates something Calpurnia told him. This shows that the use of the word ‘nigger’ has more complex uses than just a word used by the white majority to discriminate against black-Americans. Calpurnia’s use of the word ‘nigger’ shows her indifference to the African- American community and raises eyebrows on attitudes concerning race in the Maycomb African-American community. Calpurnia uses the word to refer to a particular kind of people rather than to reclaim it in a hip-hop sense. She uses it again when referring to Lula to show her she has the power to insult her even in Maycomb boundaries (12.138). Atticus Finch used the word only once in the novel when showing Scout why he should not use the term or get into fights when the Maycomb citizens call him a ‘nigger-lover’. He tells Scout that the term nigger-lover means anything just like the word snot-nose. He continues to tell Scout that the term slipped into use by some people wanting a common, ugly word to label the African-American community (11.107). Conclusion Surname4 As seen by the analysis of the characterization tools used in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the characters have more complex characterizations than what they are generally depicted as. The same can be applied in real life; people have complex characters which can be hard to distinguish at first. Atticus Finch, serves as among the only racially woke people in Maycomb. He fights to have a racially integrated Maycomb by advising Scout against using the term ‘nigger’ to refer to the African-American community. His beliefs of the blacks being equal to the whites never wavered even after being termed as a ‘nigger-lover’. In today’s world we need characters such as Atticus to speak out against the evils of racial discrimination to finally put an end to this scourge. Surname5 References Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Random House, 2010