To kill a Mockingbird Literary Analysis Paragraph

Essay by Lupe103High School, 11th gradeA, November 2014

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To kill a Mockingbird Literary Analysis Paragraph

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee's use of syntax and diction sets the mood and tone of nostalgia. On chapter one of this novel, Harper Lee describes the people and her home town she grew up in."Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. Men's stiff collars, ladies bathe before noon, after their three o'clock naps... (Lee 5)" Lee gives descriptive detail and paints a vivid picture of Maycomb. The mood emphasizes the quiet, dull town giving it a calm, quit, and nostalgic mood. Another example of nostalgia is when Scout's tone sets a picture of a boring predictable rhythm. "A day was twenty four hours but seemed longer, there was no hurry for there was nowhere to go. (Lee 10)" Scout, Jem and Dill would play games under the hot summer sun on days that seemed to never end.

Scout felt as if the days were slow and seemed to never end for the people at Maycomb giving it that nostalgic tone. As the book progresses Harper Lee describe how Scout has changed mentally. After she was in "second grade at school and tormenting Boo Radley became passé…Previous minor encounters with her left me with no desire for more, but Jem and I had to grow up sometime.(Lee 99)" Scout looks back when she was smaller and remembers how they had to go around so they will not encounter Mrs. Henry Lafayette which they were afraid off. She remembers tormenting the Radley's but she starts to realize that what she is doing is childish. In the Harper Lee uses many quotations to set the mood and tone of nostalgia.