To kill a mockingbird- extract

In the extract from her novel To Kill a Mocking-Bird, Harper Lee reveals the courage shown towards a mob of men set out to kill an innocent man. This particular extract ties in with the overall themes present in the novel, which are courage, innocence and growth, and prejudice through racism. The text is constructed as a first person narration from the adult of Jean-Louise Finch, in retrospect to when she was six. Lee’s disapproving, sceptical attitude to the events has been revealed through the techniques of language, dialogue and point of view.
She has included this passage in order to draw the readers’ attention to the injustices that occurred in the Nineteen thirties and to further explore the themes of the novel.




Harper Lee’s extract imparts the danger portended in a scene outside the County jail between the lynch mob and an African-American, Tom Cunningham. Atticus, the Negroes’ lawyer attempts to rid the intruders away, when his children appear in the scene.
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