What was Harper Lee's purpose in writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird'?

Answer 1

The title "To Kill a Mockingbird" comes from a scene in chapter 10. Scout asks her neighbor, Miss Maudie, about something her father, Atticus, said:

"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird...

"Your father's right," [Miss Maudie] said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Answer 2

Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird because she wanted to show the racism back in the 1930's. She wrote it because of her own experiences and to show that whites and blacks are equal.

Answer 3

Because the book is about how innocence is taken away or "killed." In the book , Atticus says that it's a sin to kill a mockingbird because all they do is make music for people to enjoy which shows they are innocent. Tom Robinson is convicted and killed, even though he's innocent. In a way, he was a killed mockingbird because he's innocent like a mockingbird, hence the title "To Kill a Mockingbird."

It was symbolic to what occurs in the book. The killing of innocence. Many "mockingbirds" were killed in the story. The most important are Scout's innocence, Jem's childhood, and Tom Robinson's life.

Harper Lee chose this answer because she states in the book that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird for it gives no harm. She portrays Tom Robinson as the mockingbird and how he was killed when he was innocent.

Answer 4

Personally, i see Harper Lee's purpose to be one of teaching morals. The novel was written during the 1960's, yet set in the 1930's. During them years, campaigners for equal black rights such as the famous Martin Luther King became to fight the racial prejudice and therefore discrimination. She wrote the novel to illustrate the severity of the racial apartheid during the 1930's- due to the Jim Crow Laws which enforced segregation between Black and White People, slavery and racial groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. From a very modern day, new historic reading, you could argue that the Atticus in the book reflects people such as Martin Luther King, as you can see the transformation of rights, as now Barack Obama is the President of the USA. Atticus is shown to be a reflection due to his dedicated, passionate way in which he defends Tom Robinson and has Calpurnia to act as a mother figure to his children, Jem and Scout.

Social prejudice is also shown through Boo Radley, the Cunningham's and the Ewell's.

Answer 5

It was written to give a realistic view of that time In life.
i think To Kill A Mockingbird was wrote to show that we still have tolerance in us still the south lost the civil war about 70 years ago in the book so Harper Lee wrote it to the south so we can become less tolerance

Answer 6

Harper Lee's purpose in writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was to shed light on the themes of racial injustice, moral growth, and empathy in society. Through the character of Atticus Finch and his defense of Tom Robinson, Lee aimed to challenge prejudice and promote understanding and compassion towards others.

Answer 7

Harper Lee's motivation to write, "To Kill a Mockingbird" came from The Scottsboro Trials that occured in the 1930s.