Pre-AP English To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Many athletes are over emphasized as the greatest, such as Kobe Bryant, of the L. A. Lakers. Though he is a great individual basketball player and arguably one of the best in the game, were would he be without the likes of Shaq, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, and Pao Gasol. I could assure you he wouldn’t be on the way to another NBA championship opportunity. Well the fact of having a supporting cast applies to sports as well as the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
While the major characters dominate the story they would not have developed without minor characters. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee uses Mrs. Merriweather in a very pivotal way as she shows that though Jem and Scout live in a very racist southern city that they believe in what they belive is right not what others think. Mrs. Merriweather a very racist and yet a practicing Methodistshows a resemblance in a certain way to the stereotypical Maycomb citizen.
Harper Lee shows that racism is a huge factor during the time the novel was set, as we see during the Tom Robinson trial. The first example we get of Mrs. Merriweather get is when she says “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me” it shows that she is religious and close to her faith. Also we see her true colors and the racist side of her when she says, “living in a jungle with nobody but J. Grimes Everett”, “not a white person will go there but that saintly j grimes Everett”.
This shows that Miss merriweather is against anything to do with blacks and that if a white person befriends a black she wont talk to them we see this with the she acts about Atticus defending a black man. Lastly is the final quality of miss merriweather which is hypocrisy the way Harper Lee shows miss Merriweathers hypocrisy is through a remark were she was talking in that group but was speaking directly to miss Perkins she says “hypocrites, miss Perkins born hypocrites at least we don’t have that sin on our shoulders down here.
Here she was talking about northerners and how they thought that the blacks shouldn’t be treated like they are and pretend to care but once they were freed they didn’t want anything to do with them. Harper lee strategically uses a character like Miss Merriweather as a foil to Miss MaudieBecause the way it lets Miss Maudie’s and Miss Merriweathers personalities contrast each other. First is Miss Maudie who seems to be this nice lady who likes the fact that Atticus is defending tom Robinson and to her shows he stands for what’s right were as Miss Merriweather is just vapid and doesn’t want anything to do with a black person.
Lastly in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee strategically and masterfully uses different key issues and characters to sharply contrast with there foils. Also through reading this you get an idea of how important minor characters are in the development of other major characters. And remember that without a supporting cast Kobe would not be on his way to another NBA championship. .