Harper Lee published just one book – “To Kill a Mockingbird” – but that was enough to influence the history of world literature. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is studied in American schools – it is a classic of world literature and the first serious piece of writing of Harper Lee. Before that, she wrote stories only in her spare time, and worked as an ordinary clerk in the daytime.
In 1956, Lee’s friends gave her an amazing gift – the amount of her annual income, taking with Harper the promise that she would quit her job and finally start writing the novel. So, with the help from real friends, Harper Lee created a work that earned her the Pulitzer Prize. We have prepared the most interesting “To Kill a Mockingbird” topics and for essays and To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Sample that will help you to write your own paper.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” Topics for an Argumentative Essay
- What are lessons of humanity in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
- How is this book relevant to the present day?
- State one of the main themes of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” What are some literary devices that Harper Lee uses to develop this particular theme?
- How do Scout’s views on courage change from the beginning of the book to the end?
- How was Jem naive and how has he changed throughout the novel to maturity?
- Discuss how Scout matures as a person throughout Harper Lee’s to “Kill a Mockingbird.” Identify and explain three incidents and/or characters which help her to grow and change.
- “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started doesn’t mean we can’t win.” What do you think about this phrase?
- How is blindness of prejudice presented in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
- Which character from the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” do you like the most?
- How is the motif of childhood presented in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
Compare and Contrast Essay Topics on “Kill a Mockingbird”
1. Compare “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Animal Farm.” Question: How does our environment (our homes/communities) shape our sense of self (values/personality traits)?
2. Compare and contrast the books “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Scarlet Letter.”
3. Compare “Of Mice and Men” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Both novels address the human need for companionship and acceptance. Discuss the effects of human connection and isolation on the characters in the two novels, mentioning three to four characters from each book.
4. Talk about a common theme between “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “The King’s Speech” and how they correlate to societal pressures and identities.
5. Contrast the “To Kill a Mockingbird” book and movie. Describe each scene from the movie and book, show how they were different, and explain the literary effect.
6. Compare “To Kill a Mockingbird” to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
7. “Justice is worth fighting for no matter how difficult.” Compare the way the film “The Power of One” and the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” explore this idea.
8. Compare Scout’s and Jem’s summer experience to yours.
9. Compare “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Road Not Taken.”
10. Compare and contrast two characters from “The Crucible” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
11. Compare the themes of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Through the Tunnel.”
12. Compare and contrast the theme of ignorance in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Fahreheit 451.”
13. Compare and contrast the Ewells and Cunninghams.
14. Compare “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
15. Compare racism as a culture in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” and racism in the movie “The Help.”
16. Compare “Grapes of Wrath” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
17. Compare “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Jasper Jones.”
18. Compare Harper Lee’s life and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
19. Compare “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Hunger Games,” and “American Sniper.”
20. Compare and contrast “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and the short story “The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses.”
21. Compare “Native Son” by Richard Wright and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee.
Analytical Essay Topics
1. How does courage relate to the movie and book “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
2. How do individuals perceive themselves and how are they perceived by others in the book?
3. Analyze the loss of innocence in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” using examples from characters in the book.
4. Is it important that Atticus took a stand for Tom in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
5. Explain how Jem and Scout changed while growing up in this environment and how they stayed the same.
6. What are the most central conflicts in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
7. Exploring the reality in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
8. Discuss the concepts of fairness and justice in the novel.
9. Analyze a character who has an important role in the novel. Describe their traits, how their character is developed throughout the novel, and how he or she contributes to the significance of the novel.
10. Select a few pivotal moments in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist (Scout) as a bildungsroman (TKAM). Analyze how those moments shape the meaning of the work as a whole.
11. How has Scout grown and matured throughout the book and how have her morals changed?
12. How does the children’s perspective shape the narrative and the audience’s perspective of the plot?
13. Analyze the community of Maycomb. What does Harper Lee reveal to us about this small town through the scenes taking place in the courtroom and outside on the streets?
14. How is the legal system represented in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
15. How do Boo’s experiences in his youth and his later years influence the events of the novel’s present? Why is this so integral to the storyline?
16. Why was “To Kill a Mockingbird” banned by most schools?
17. Analyze Atticus Finch as a teacher and a father from chapters 9-11 of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Expository Essay Topics
1. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is very much about the moral education of Scout and Jem. Explore what they learn about themselves and about the society in which they live.
2. What are the morals of “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
3. How does The Great Depression relate to the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
4. Do you think the author was influenced by real-life events when she wrote her work of fiction?
5. Do historical events speak to or address the existence of social inequality?
6. How do the historical events connect – directly or indirectly – with the theme Lee writes about in the novel?
7. Explore the co-existence of good and evil in the novel.
8. Explore the political themes of the film “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
9. Why is it a sin to kill Tom, Boo, and Atticus in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
10. How does Mrs. Dubose in “To Kill a Mockingbird” show courage?
11. Show how Jem and Scout mature throughout the book and how they come of age. Do this by showing how people aren’t always what they seem to be.
12. Why was Tom Robinson’s trial a political trial?
13. Why does Dill from “To Kill a Mockingbird” show the most moral growth?
14. Explore the innocence in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
15. Explore justice and fairness in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
16. Is “To Kill a Mockingbird” a timeless classic? Explore the issue of race in the novel.
Evaluation Essay Topics
1. What motivates a character to go against the grain of society?
2. Evaluate the important issues in the novel that continue to be of concern today.
3. Evaluate moral courage used in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
4. Evaluate the part when Miss Maudie’s house burns down.
5. Evaluate the part when Mayella Ewell is violated.
6. Evaluate the part when Tom Robinson is arrested.
7. Evaluate the part when Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson.
8. Evaluate the part when Tom Robinson is found guilty.
9. Evaluate the part when Boo Radley rescues Finch’s children.
10. Evaluate the part when Bob Ewell is found dead.
11. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and evaluate in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details.
12. Evaluate the concepts of fairness and justice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
13. Evaluate the symbolic meaning of the mockingbird and why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.
14. How does Harper Lee show Scout and Jem growing up in the book?
15. Is this novel more (or less) a story of lost innocence than racial inequality?
Critical Essay Topics
1. How are stereotypes presented in the novel?
2. How does the novel shape and challenge the time periods it was published and set philosophically, socially, and politically?
3. What does the novel have to say about courage? Who are the courageous characters in the novel? How do they demonstrate their courage?
4. To what extent does Harper Lee suggest that discrimination stems from ignorance?
5. How is feminism presented in the book?
6. How does superstition, traditions, and storytelling affect the characters’ actions and decisions? Give concrete examples.
7. How are Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Scout mockingbirds?
8. What do you think is the most important conflict in the book?
9. How is Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee?
10. How does “To Kill a Mockingbird” show social change?
11. Was justice served for Tom Robinson? For Bob Ewell? For Boo Radley?
12. How is poverty presented in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
13. Why is banning “To Kill a Mockingbird” wrong?
14. What makes “To Kill a Mockingbird” a great movie?
15. How does the author Harper Lee construct identity through narrative voice in “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
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