To Kill A Mockingbird: Irony And Sarcasm Essay, Research Paper

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a

highly regarded work of American fiction. The story of the novel teaches

us many lessons that should last any reader for a lifetime. The messages

that Harper Lee relays to the reader are exemplified throughout the book

using various methods. One of the most important and significant methods

was the use of symbols such as the mockingbird image. Another important

method was showing the view through a growing child’s (Scout Finch) mind,

eyes, ears, and mouth. There is another very significant method that was

used. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee utilizes the effects

of irony, sarcasm, and hypocrisy to criticize a variety of elements in

Southern life.

Harper Lee employs the effects of irony

in To Kill a Mockingbird as a way to criticize the deficiency of public

education. “Now tell your father not to teach you any more. It’s best to

begin reading with a fresh mind.” (pG. 22) Instead of praising Scout’s

ability to read at an advanced level, Miss Caroline discourages it. This

ironic example set by Miss Caroline seems to demonstrate the inadequate

training that she had received for her occupation. Miss Caroline seems

to have been instructed upon a strict standard on how her students are

expected to behave, but when she encounters something different, such as

Scout’s advanced ability to read, she advises Scout to stop being advanced,

whereas a modern-day schoolteacher would capitalize on Scout’s ability

to read and encourage her to read more. “You won’t learn to write until

you’re in the third grade.” (pg. 23) The strict, recipe-style, rubric method

of teaching that Miss Caroline uses is once again emphasized here. Miss

Caroline once again discourages Scout’s advanced abilities and regards

Scout’s ability with contempt. “The Dewey Decimal System consisted, in

part, of Miss Caroline waving cards at us which were printed ‘the,’ ‘cat,’

‘rat,’ ‘man,’ and ‘you.’” (pg. 23) The Dewey Teaching Method was supposed

to place an emphasis on “active” learning, yet the irony in Miss Caroline’s

“use” of it was that her teaching method wasn’t “active” at all. It was,

in fact, extremely passive. The students in the class didn’t do anything.

They became extremely bored and learned very little. As I have established,

the use of irony clearly reveals the deficiency of the public education

system in the 1930’s. Teachers did not seem to be trained enough to handle

the vast abilities of their students. Instead, they seemed to be trained

to handle a narrowly confined amount of expected abilities. If Miss Caroline

had recognized that Scout had advanced abilities, she could have allowed

Scout to advance to a higher grade and save Scout from going through a

school year that teaches her stuff that she has already learned. Public

education is not the only element that Harper Lee uses irony to criticize,

however. American political attitudes are also criticized using irony.

Harper Lee also uses sarcasm to criticize

the American political attitudes that were clearly evident in the South.

“(When Alabama seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861, Winston County

seceded from Alabama, and every child in Maycomb County knew it.)” (pg.

21) By listening to their parents and other adults, the young children

of Maycomb have grown to despise Winston County for the same reason the

adults despise it because it seceded from Alabama in 1861. It would seem

pretty idiotic to most people to despise people based upon what their ancestors

had done 70 years ago. “North Alabama was full of Liquor Interests, Big

Mules, steel companies, Republicans, professors, and other persons of no

background.” (pg. 21) Overheard from adults, most likely, Scout’s thoughts

reflect the beliefs of a majority of the people in Maycomb. The political

attitudes in the provincial South are criticized as the people seem to

want to stick to their old ideas and beliefs. Evolving new ideas and beliefs

are systematically rejected; anybody that adapts the new ideas are regarded

as having “no background.” “People up there set ‘em free, but you don’t

see ‘em settin’ at the table with ‘em? I think that woman, that Mrs. Roosevelt’s

lost her mind-just plain lost her mind coming down to Birmingham and tryin’

to sit with ‘em.” (pg. 237) The outright hypocrisy that Mrs. Merriweather

states when referring to the North is one of the main elements that Harper

Lee employs in criticizing the South’s political attitudes. There seems

to be nothing that satisfies Mrs. Merriweather, who reflects the stereotypical

southern woman-she despises the North no matter what they do up there.

As is clearly evident, the use of irony, sarcasm, and hypocrisy proved

to be a highly effective tool in criticizing American political attitudes

in the South. Through the uses of irony, sarcasm, and hypocrisy, Harper

Lee implies that a majority of the people in the South are close-minded

upon their political views, never-changing and strictly one-sided. The

use of irony and hypocrisy is most importantly used, however, upon the

criticism of unjustified discrimination.

Unjustified discrimination, undoubtedly

on of the main, key concepts of To Kill a Mockingbird, is a large element

in which Harper Lee employs the effects of irony, sarcasm, and hypocrisy

in criticizing it. “He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham-” (pg.

29) This is one of the first times in which Scout Finch encounters unjustified

discrimination, and sadly, she fails to recognize it. When everybody invited

to one’s house should be considered “company,” Scout redefines it as “people

more important than a Cunningham.” Although she is at a rather young age,

she already regards people as socially inferior. Mrs. Merriweather spent

an afternoon at the Missionary Circle complaining about the plight of the

poor Mrunas in Africa, but just a few moments later, she states, “Might’ve

looked like the right thing to do at the time, I’m sure. I don’t know,

I’m not read in that field, but sulky?dissatisfied? I tell you if my Sophy’d

kept it up another day I’d have let her go.” (pg. 235) It is amazing that

Mrs. Merriweather does not recognize her seemingly straightforward hypocrisy.

Just a short while ago, she was complaining about the poor Mrunas in Africa

not receiving enough help, then she does a complete turn-around and complains

about Atticus Finch helping out the blacks in Maycomb. The use of Mrs.

Merriweather’s hypocrisy greatly helps in Harper Lee’s denouncement and

criticism of unjustified discrimination. “Jem, how can you hate Hitler

so bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home.” (pg.

249-250) Scout had already heard Miss Gates say that it was “time somebody

taught ‘em (the blacks) a lesson.” Miss Gates is so engulfed in the myth

of white superiority that she does not even remotely recognize her hypocrisy

when she denounces Hitler and says that persecuting anybody is wrong. Apparently

in Miss Gate’s case, blacks aren’t “anybody.” By having Scout ask that

curious question to Jem, it is then implied that Scout is still young,

she has not yet been effected by the myth of white superiority. She still

has the ability to reason out the hypocrisy in Miss Gates, while Miss Gates

does not see the hypocrisy herself. Harper Lee uses irony and hypocrisy

to show how the people of Maycomb are so engulfed in a variety of elements

that they unknowingly complete acts of unjustified discrimination. Scout

Finch was so caught up in small town provincialism that she regarded a

Cunningham as socially inferior. Mrs. Merriweather and Miss Gates were

so entirely engulfed in the myth of white superiority that they don’t realize

their hypocrisy when they state it. The use of irony and hypocrisy was

exceptionally used well to criticize the facets of unjustified discrimination.

The effects that irony, sarcasm, and hypocrisy

inhibit upon the readers’ mind is presumably the reason that Harper Lee

employed them to criticize the various elements of life in Maycomb. It

is one of the reasons that make To Kill a Mockingbird such an exceptional

piece of literature. Just by itself, the employment of irony and sarcasm

is great, but not that great. When combined with a wonderful and meaningful

storyline, the use of symbols, and the various other concepts throughout

the book, they combine to leave impressive ingredients in a magnificent

recipe. Those are the reasons that make Harper Lee’s novel such an impressive

novel.