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American Classic Discussion Paper

American Classic
An American Classic is a book that has stood the test of time. A book that was written so well and is so entertaining that generations of people have read it and will continue to read it through the ages. Such books are extremely rare and are great to read. Some books that might fall under the title of an American Classic are Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1984 by George Orwell, and To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. The latter is the one that shall be subject to analysis in this paper. To Kill a Mockingbird is about two young siblings, Jem, about 10, and Scout, about 7, who must learn about growing up, among other things. They live in a small southern town during the depression and are perpetually afraid of their ominous neighbors, the Radley’s. Their father, a lawyer, must defend an innocent black man in a very racist town. All this makes for a very interesting book that is hard to put down. To Kill a Mockingbird is an American Classic because of its compelling plot as shown through suspense in the Tom Robinson case, its’ well developed characters such as Atticus Finch, its universal theme of accepting other races, and its unique style of writing in first person as a seven year old girl.
Harper Lee creates a very compelling plot with a lot of suspense in To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the most suspenseful parts of the book is all the events surrounding the Tom Robinson case. Tom Robinson is a black man from Maycomb that is innocently accused of rape by Bob Ewall, a poor drunk who lives in the town dump. He claims that

his daughter was raped by Tom when it was actually his daughter that came on to Tom when Bob saw her. Bob was angry that his daughter would lust for a black man, which is frowned upon during this time period, so he makes up the story in an attempt to raise his social status and rid him of the embarrassment. At one point, Tom Robinson is sitting in the town jail with Atticus keeping...