Laureen Akram Mrs.

Davis English 7th, Block II June 15, 2012

A Meaningful Title
Everyone has heard the line, "don't judge a book by it's cover" yet everybody does. A book's title is the first thing that a reader looks at and the way readers refer to a book. Without a good title your book is not going to sell well. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an example of a book with a meaningful title that sells well. The words, 'to kill a mockingbird' are first mentioned when Atticus tells Scout and Jem not to shoot mockingbirds because all mockingbirds do is sing, no harm. In the novel, an innocent and respectful African American man, Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. The line "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" connects to Tom's story in a very sad way. Tom is like a mockingbird, he was always good to the Mayella, and, like a mockingbird, he has caused no harm. In this instance, Mayella killed a mockingbird because she caused harm to someone who didn't deserve it just because she knew she could get away with it. Another example of how To Kill a Mockingbird is a fitting title is Arthur Radley. After Arthur saved the kids, Sheriff Heck Tate refused to release to the public that Arthur saved them. His claim was very similar to the fact that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Arthur had always kept himself aside from society and never hurt anyone. Releasing to the public that Arthur had saved the kids would send all of Maycomb to Arthur's front door. That would destroy Arthur's way of living his life and therefore kill a mockingbird. In these ways, To Kill a Mockingbird is a very fitting title for Harper Lee's novel.

A Uniquely Southern Setting

There are many aspects in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee that make it's setting uniquely southern. One of these elements is the city itself; To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb, Alabama. Harper Lee lived in the southern city of Monroeville, also in Alabama, and when she wrote her novel she based it on her city. Another of the aspects in To Kill a Mockingbird that make it unique is the time period. Lee's novel also takes place during the Great Depression when racism was still strong. Lastly, the people in To Kill a Mockingbird also contribute to its southern setting. The people in the novel all have a southern dialect. Characters use words such as "yes'm" and "nome" for "yes, ma'am". For "sir" the characters in Lee's novel use "suh" something that you will only find in the South. Also, characters in the novel use an odd word, "yonder". "Yonder" means "over there" and is rarely heard in the west. As shown above, there are many aspects in Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird that make it uniquely southern.