What are some examples of humor in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Answer 1

There are many literary elememts used in this novel. In the first chapters, we see the main ones being allusions (like when Scout talks about The Battle of Hastings and Andrew Jackson) and imagery (used when describing the characters and the town itself)

Answer 2

Harper Lee uses a lot of humor, most of which is satirical. When Atticus says that Bob Ewell isn't going to hurt him, and even if he is he can come to Atticus and he won't hurt the rest of the family, while Aunt Alexandra says that he might hurt them and at the end of the book it turns out that Aunt Alexandra is right. She does this to emphasize how cowardly and devious Bob Ewell is and also to show that even though Aunt Alexandra is overly worried sometimes, she has reasons for it.

Another type of humor is when Aunt Alexandra says that all families in Maycomb seem to have some sort of streak, and Atticus says, "Would you say that the Finches have an incestuous streak?" she doesn't agree, and this shows how biased she is about her own family. One more example of this which shows how wrong she is, is her opinion that "The longer a family had been squatting on the same piece of land, the finer it was" and Jem says, "That makes the Ewells fine folks then," as they had lived in the same place for years, but actually it shows how wrong and prejudiced Aunt Alexandra was sometimes.

She also uses indirect ways to show some things, for example, she says, "Judge Taylor went out behind the stage and slapped his knees until his wife had to bring him a glass of water and his pill," to show that he is laughing instead of just saying that, because it will make the reader think about it instead of just saying it, which makes it more interesting, and it also highlights the funniness of the thing that Scout did.

Atticus is also compared to different people, "I get more like Cousin Joshua every day, don't I?" and, "I'm as radical as cotton Tom Heflin," who he is not like at all, to show how different he is from them and to highlight some of his strong points.

A different example of humor is, when Mr. Tate says he "took it [the knife] off a drunk," it is correct, as Ewell was drunk because "he smelled of stale whisky." It was actually partly correct. Harper Lee did this so that the readers could guess what was going on in the end and where he had really gotten the knife from.

The way Atticus talks is also amusing. For example when he tells Dill, "Put some of the country back where it belongs," when Dill is covered in dirt, but he actually means for him to take a bath. It helps to show what Atticus' personality is like, and even though Dill just ran away from home to go to their house, he asks him to take a bath instead of telling him off.

Answer 3

Some examples of humor in "To Kill a Mockingbird" include Scout's observations of her eccentric neighbor Miss Maudie, the children's attempts to understand the adult world, and Scout's witty retorts to her brother Jem. Additionally, the children's interactions with their friend Dill and their imaginative games provide moments of light-heartedness in the novel.

Answer 4

Literary devices are found throughout the book.