Harper Lee’s Use of Stylistic Devices in to Kill a Mockingbird

Set in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama amidst the Great Depression, Harper Lee’s award winning To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) is a bildungsroman novel that explores moral conscience and racial prejudice through a woman’s reflection on her childhood. Lee encourages readers to empathise with characters and their experience of racism through the use of aesthetic features and stylistic devices. She does this by effectively narrating the novel from the objective point of view of the young, innocent Scout Finch. The aesthetic feature of emotional imagery is also effectively utilised through language, inviting readers to develop their own perceptions and evoking emotional responses.

Lee effectively narrates the novel from the viewpoint of the naïve and observant Scout Finch, inviting readers to adopt a simplistic and unprejudiced view. Readers identify with Scout from the beginning of the novel and are subsequently instilled with her childlike assessments and perceptions of situations. In the initial stages of the novel, Scout reflects that ‘…[Calpurnia’s] hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard,’ (page 6). Readers are positioned to view her as merely strict, and her representation outside of the Finch house is not revealed due to Scout’s naivety. In contrast, when attending the African American church, Scout observes that Calpurnia’s behaviour is starkly different to what she is accustomed to, recalling that ‘…the roses on her hat trembled indignantly’ when confronted by a member of the black community regarding her reasons for bringing Scout and Jem to the “…nigger church”. This is when it first dawns on Scout that Calpurnia is caught between the black and white communities, and her vulnerable side is first presented to readers. Lee makes use of Scout’s perspective to heighten Calpurnia’s contrast in behaviour, inviting readers to feel empathetic for her character as they now identify her complications that were never previously raised. Encouragement of empathy in readers is further achieved through Scout’s innocence presented in her approaches to situations dealing with prejudice. She denies Cecil Jacob’s remark in the schoolyard concerning her father’s defending of African Americans despite stating she isn’t sure what he means by it, and is able to deduce that his comment was insolent purely based on the tone in which it was said. Lee cleverly utilises Scout’s perspective to highlight the absurdity of the racial prejudice by showing that someone who is secure in their values, regardless of limited life experiences, is able to identify the difference between right and wrong. The narration of the novel from Scout’s viewpoint enables Lee to encourage readers to empathise with characters and their experience of racism through her honest, childlike nature.

The aesthetic feature of emotional imagery is effectively utilised through language to invite readers to develop their own perceptions of situations dealing with racial prejudice and evoking emotional responses. When attending the trial, Dill Harris comments on the atmosphere of the Maycomb community, reflecting that the surroundings of the courthouse resemble “…a Roman carnival”. Lee portrays Tom Robinson’s by using the aesthetic feature of emotive imagery, likening his trial to a public spectacle for entertainment instead of the serious quest for justice it should be. Readers are provided with a real life and more comprehensible illustration of Tom Robinson’s experience of discrimination, evoking emotional response and fostering empathy. Lee also invites readers to identify with Tom Robinson through emotive imagery developed by those who oppose him. When relaying his account of the event in the courtroom, Bob Ewell’s extensive use of derogatory expressions promotes harsh imagery in the minds of readers. Lee uses aesthetic features of emotive imagery to project the austere atmosphere of the courtroom, enabling audiences to develop a strong connection with the victim. The integration of emotional imagery through language enables readers to empathise with characters that are victim to racial prejudice, through providing comprehensive analogies to their experiences and promoting striking depictions to evoke emotional responses.

Lee encourages readers to empathise with characters and their experience of racial prejudice through cleverly utilising aesthetic features and stylistic devices. This is evidenced by her positioning of the novel from the first-person viewpoint of the objective and innocent Scout Finch, and her employment of the aesthetic feature of emotional imagery through language. It is Lee’s skilful use of these techniques that make To Kill a Mockingbird one of the most classic pieces of American literature.