To Kill A Mockingbird

Monday, March 15, 2021 8:47 PM

Themes:
Prejudice - Discussions about prejudice in general, and racism in particular, are at the heart of To Kill a
Mockingbird. Conflicts over racism drive some of the most compelling and memorable scenes in the
novel. Racial conflict causes the two dramatic deaths that occur in the story. On one level, To Kill a
Mockingbird represents a simplistic and moralistic view of racial prejudice. White people who are racist
are bad, and white people who are not racist are good. Atticus risks his reputation, his position in the
community, and ultimately the safety of his children because he is not racist, and therefore good. Bob
Ewell falsely accuses a black man of rape, spits on Atticus publicly, and attempts to murder a child
because he is racist, and therefore bad. To Kill a Mockingbird does attempt to look at some of the
complexities of living in a racist society. Both Scout and Jem confront everything from unpleasantness to
murderous hostility as they learn how their family’s resistance to racial prejudice has positioned them
against the community at [Link] treatment of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird is not only simplistic
in terms of morality, but also in terms of perspective. To read the novel one would think racism is a
problem that exists between educated, financially stable, moral white people, and ignorant, dirt poor,
vicious white people. The black characters in the novel are rarely given voice on the topic of racism.
When they do speak it is largely in terms of gratitude for the good white people of town and not in
terms of anger, frustration, resistance, or hostility towards the culture of racism. When the author does
present black characters as trying to resist racist abuses, she shows them doing so by avoiding or
retreating, as when Tom Robinson attempts to escape from prison or when Helen Robinson walks
through the woods to avoid going past the Ewell house. Black characters in the novel never respond to
racism actively and barely respond to it reactively. When a black character is critical of white people, as
when Lula challenges Calpurnia for bringing Jem and Scout to the black church, she is ostracized by the
rest of the black community, suggesting her complaints against white people are unfounded.

Inequality - Differences in social status are explored largely through the overcomplicated social
hierarchy of Maycomb, the ins and outs of which constantly baffle the children. The relatively well-off
Finches stand near the top of Maycomb’s social hierarchy, with most of the townspeople beneath them.
Ignorant country farmers like the Cunninghams lie below the townspeople, and the white trash Ewells
rest below the Cunninghams. But the black community in Maycomb, despite its abundance of admirable
qualities, squats below even the Ewells, enabling Bob Ewell to make up for his own lack of importance
by persecuting Tom Robinson. These rigid social divisions that make up so much of the adult world are
revealed in the book to be both irrational and destructive. For example, Scout cannot understand why
Aunt Alexandra refuses to let her consort with young Walter Cunningham. Lee uses the children’s
perplexity at the unpleasant layering of Maycomb society to critique the role of class status and,
ultimately, prejudice in human interaction.

Racism -
The theme of racism serves as the backbone of the novel. Various characters in To Kill a Mockingbird
confront racial discrimination, including Calpurnia, Scout, Tom Robinson, and his family. Throughout the
novel, Scout explores differences between white people and black people. Tom is convicted because of
the color of his skin. The race is the only strong evidence that stands against him. Since everything has
ensued from the perspective of prejudice, it could be stated that racism is a critical thematic strand.

How did Scout change throughout the novel? At the beginning of the novel, Scout is an innocent, good-
hearted five-year-old child who has no experience with the evils of the world. As the novel progresses,
Scout has her first contact with evil in the form of racial prejudice, and the basic development of her
character is governed by the question of whether she will emerge from that contact with her conscience

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character is governed by the question of whether she will emerge from that contact with her conscience
and optimism intact or whether she will be bruised, hurt, or destroyed like Boo Radley and Tom
Robinson. Thanks to Atticus’s wisdom, Scout learns that though humanity has a great capacity for evil, it
also has a great capacity for good, and that the evil can often be mitigated if one approaches others with
an outlook of sympathy and understanding. Scout’s development into a person capable of assuming that
outlook marks the culmination of the novel and indicates that, whatever evil she encounters, she will
retain her conscience without becoming cynical or jaded. Though she is still a child at the end of the
book, Scout’s perspective on life develops from that of an innocent child into that of a near grown-up.

Symbols:

Mockingbird - The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot, but it carries
a great deal of symbolic weight in the book. In this story of innocents destroyed by evil, the
“mockingbird” comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy
innocence. Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr.
Raymond) can be identified as mockingbirds—innocents who have been injured or destroyed through
contact with evil. This connection between the novel’s title and its main theme is made explicit several
times in the novel: after Tom Robinson is shot, Mr. Underwood compares his death to “the senseless
slaughter of songbirds,” and at the end of the book Scout thinks that hurting Boo Radley would be like
“shootin’ a mockingbird.” Most important, Miss Maudie explains to Scout: “Mockingbirds don’t do one
thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That Jem and Scout’s
last name is Finch (another type of small bird) indicates that they are particularly vulnerable in the racist
world of Maycomb, which often treats the fragile innocence of childhood harshly.

Boo Radley -
As the novel progresses, the children’s changing attitude toward Boo Radley is an important
measurement of their development from innocence toward a grown-up moral perspective. At the
beginning of the book, Boo is merely a source of childhood superstition. As he leaves Jem and Scout
presents and mends Jem’s pants, he gradually becomes increasingly and intriguingly real to them. At the
end of the novel, he becomes fully human to Scout, illustrating that she has developed into a
sympathetic and understanding individual. Boo, an intelligent child ruined by a cruel father, is one of the
book’s most important mockingbirds; he is also an important symbol of the good that exists within
people. Despite the pain that Boo has suffered, the purity of his heart rules his interaction with the
children. In saving Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell, Boo proves the ultimate symbol of good

The Coexistence Of Good And Evil

The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is the book’s exploration of the moral nature
of human beings—that is, whether people are essentially good or essentially evil. The novel
approaches this question by dramatizing Scout and Jem’s transition from a perspective of childhood
innocence, in which they assume that people are good because they have never seen evil, to a more
adult perspective, in which they have confronted evil and must incorporate it into their understanding of
the world. As a result of this portrayal of the transition from innocence to experience, one of the book’s
important subthemes involves the threat that hatred, prejudice, and ignorance pose to the innocent:
people such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are not prepared for the evil that they encounter, and, as
a result, they are destroyed. Even Jem is victimized to an extent by his discovery of the evil of racism
during and after the trial. Whereas Scout is able to maintain her basic faith in human nature despite
Tom’s conviction, Jem’s faith in justice and in humanity is badly damaged, and he retreats into a state of
disillusionment.
The moral voice of To Kill a Mockingbird is embodied by Atticus Finch, who is virtually unique in
the novel in that he has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human
capacity for goodness. Atticus understands that, rather than being simply creatures of good or
creatures of evil, most people have both good and bad qualities. The important thing is to
appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy
and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem

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and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem
and Scout to show them that it is possible to live with conscience without losing hope or
becoming cynical. In this way, Atticus is able to admire Mrs. Dubose’s courage even while
deploring her racism. Scout’s progress as a character in the novel is defined by her gradual
development toward understanding Atticus’s lessons, culminating when, in the final chapters,
Scout at last sees Boo Radley as a human being. Her newfound ability to view the world from
his perspective ensures that she will not become jaded as she loses her innocence.
The Importance Of Moral Education
Because exploration of the novel’s larger moral questions takes place within the perspective of
children, the education of children is necessarily involved in the development of all of the novel’s
themes. In a sense, the plot of the story charts Scout’s moral education, and the theme of how
children are educated—how they are taught to move from innocence to adulthood—recurs
throughout the novel (at the end of the book, Scout even says that she has learned practically
everything except algebra). This theme is explored most powerfully through the relationship between
Atticus and his children, as he devotes himself to instilling a social conscience in Jem and Scout. The
scenes at school provide a direct counterpoint to Atticus’s effective education of his children: Scout is
frequently confronted with teachers who are either frustratingly unsympathetic to children’s needs or
morally hypocritical. As is true of To Kill a Mockingbird’s other moral themes, the novel’s
conclusion about education is that the most important lessons are those of sympathy and
understanding, and that a sympathetic, understanding approach is the best way to teach these
lessons. In this way, Atticus’s ability to put himself in his children’s shoes makes him an
excellent teacher, while Miss Caroline’s rigid commitment to the educational techniques that she
learned in college makes her ineffective and even dangerous.
The Existence Of Social Inequality
Differences in social status are explored largely through the overcomplicated social hierarchy of
Maycomb, the ins and outs of which constantly baffle the children. The relatively well-off
Finches stand near the top of Maycomb’s social hierarchy, with most of the townspeople
beneath them. Country farmers like the Cunninghams lie below the townspeople, and the Ewells
rest below the Cunninghams. But the black community in Maycomb, despite its abundance of
admirable qualities, squats below even the Ewells, enabling Bob Ewell to make up for his own
lack of importance by persecuting Tom Robinson. These rigid social divisions that make up so
much of the adult world are revealed in the book to be both irrational and destructive. For
example, Scout cannot understand why Aunt Alexandra refuses to let her consort with young
Walter Cunningham. Lee uses the children’s perplexity at the unpleasant layering of Maycomb
society to critique the role of class status and, ultimately, prejudice in human interaction.
Prejudice
Discussions about prejudice in general, and racism in particular, are at the heart of To Kill a
Mockingbird. Conflicts over racism drive some of the most compelling and memorable scenes in
the novel. Racial conflict causes the two dramatic deaths that occur in the story. On one
level, To Kill a Mockingbird represents a simplistic and moralistic view of racial prejudice. White
people who are racist are bad, and white people who are not racist are good. Atticus risks his
reputation, his position in the community, and ultimately the safety of his children because he is
not racist, and therefore good. Bob Ewell falsely accuses a black man of rape, spits on Atticus
publicly, and attempts to murder a child because he is racist, and therefore bad. To Kill a
Mockingbird does attempt to look at some of the complexities of living in a racist society. Both
Scout and Jem confront everything from unpleasantness to murderous hostility as they learn
how their family’s resistance to racial prejudice has positioned them against the community at
large.
The treatment of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird is not only simplistic in terms of morality, but
also in terms of perspective. To read the novel one would think racism is a problem that exists
between educated, financially stable, moral white people, and ignorant, dirt poor, vicious white
people. The black characters in the novel are rarely given voice on the topic of racism. When
they do speak it is largely in terms of gratitude for the good white people of town and not in
terms of anger, frustration, resistance, or hostility towards the culture of racism. When the
author does present black characters as trying to resist racist abuses, she shows them doing so
by avoiding or retreating, as when Tom Robinson attempts to escape from prison or when Helen
Robinson walks through the woods to avoid going past the Ewell house. Black characters in the
novel never respond to racism actively and barely respond to it reactively. When a black
character is critical of white people, as when Lula challenges Calpurnia for bringing Jem and
Scout to the black church, she is ostracized by the rest of the black community, suggesting her
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Scout to the black church, she is ostracized by the rest of the black community, suggesting her
complaints against white people are unfounded.
Law
Though the trial of Tom Robinson takes up only about one tenth of the book, it represents the
narrative center around which the rest of the novel revolves. This trial seems intended as an
indictment of the legal system, at the least as it exists of within the town of Maycomb.
Procedurally, the judge carries out the trial properly. The lawyers select the jury through normal
means, and both the defense and prosecution to make their cases. But the all-white jury does
not interpret the evidence according to the law, but rather applies their own prejudices to
determine the outcome of the case. Tom Robinson’s guilty verdict exemplifies the limitations of
the law, and asks the reader to reconsider the meaning of the word “fair” in the phrase “a fair
trial.” While Atticus understands that the legal system is flawed, he firmly believes in the legal
process. At the same time, Atticus believes the law should be applied differently to different
people. He explains to Scout that because she has a good life full of opportunities she should
have to obey the law fully, but he suggests that there are others who have much more difficult
lives and far fewer opportunities, and that there are times when it is just to let those people
break the law in small ways so that they are not overly harmed by the law’s application.
Lying
There are two lies at the heart of To Kill a Mockingbird. Mayella Ewell says that Tom Robinson
raped her, and Heck Tate says that Bob Ewell accidentally stabbed himself. The first lie
destroys an innocent man who occupies a precarious social position in Maycomb because of his
race. The second lie prevents the destruction of an innocent man who occupies a precarious
social position in Maycomb because of his extreme reclusiveness. Taken together, the two lies
reflect how deception can be used to harm or to protect. The two lies also reveal how the most
vulnerable members of society can be the most deeply affected by the stories people tell about
them. Social status also determines who is allowed to tell a lie. During the trial, prosecutor
Horace Gilmer confronts Tom Robinson, asking Tom if he is accusing Mayella Ewell of lying.
Even though Tom knows full well that Mayella is lying, he cannot say so because in Maycomb
the lies of a white woman carry more weight than the truth told by a black man. Atticus, on the
other hand, who is white, male, and of a higher class status than Mayella, can accuse her of
lying when he suggests that it was really Mayella’s father, not Tom, who beat her.

1. Who is the main character of To Kill a Mockingbird? How does her perspective influence the
narrative?
Ans: The main character of the novel is Scout . Her perspective influence the novel a lot as Scout is a
young child , thus her perspective of the world is unbiased and she is looking into the world from an
open minded perspective , thus it allows the readers to understand exactly what the situation might
have been like at that time from a child’s unprejudiced point of view.
2. How did the town of Maycomb treat the Robinsons? How did this change how Scout's family was
treated?
Ans: The Robinson family were black in race , the popularity of Maycomb was white , which led to
racism in the community . The black people were a prey of prejudice and ill treatment. This situation
worsened when a false claim was put on Tom Robinson of raping a white girl , Mayella Ewell . Even
though all the evidence proves Tom’s innocence , the biased minds of the white people didn’t allow
their rationality about the case to come forward . Even in this kind of society, Scout’s family kept up
their morality and judgement , and supported the Robinsons because it was the right thing to do . This
affected the Scout family , as the society was supporting the Ewells but Scout’s family was supporting
the Robinsons , for which the Scout family were called names and looked down upon .
3. When the sheriff tells Atticus to 'Let the dead bury the dead', what is he talking about?
Ans: By this line , sheriff Tate means to let the past be in the past , he is talking about Tom Ewell’s death
incident. He says this to indicate to Atticus that the murder has already taken place , and rather than
finding the actual criminal , let sheriff tate handle the case , as sheriff knows that Ewell was killed by
Boo, though Boo will be praised for the murder as it saved the Finch children , he doesnt like attention ,
thus Sheriff made up a story about Bob falling on his own knife and killing himself and told Atticus to let
the dead bury the dead , meaning let the past be in the past.
4. What is the symbolism of the mockingbird in the novel? What character can be compared to the

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4. What is the symbolism of the mockingbird in the novel? What character can be compared to the
bird?
Ans: Mockingbird is an harmless bird that doesn’t do anything except sing and make nature better for
us. In the novel we see that Atticus tells Jem and Scout to never kill a mocking , because killing a
mockingbird is taking advantage of something or someone who has done no crime . We can compare
the mockingbird to Tom Robinson , despite being harmless and innocent , he was put up for trial and
was deemed guilty and sent to prison , though all of the evidence proved his innocence.

5. Atticus says that it’s a “sin to kill a mockingbird”. Atticus uses the mockingbird
as a metaphor to represent innocence. There are three episodes in the story where
Scout uses the phrase “to kill a mockingbird” and with each incident she displays a
more complete understanding of the relationship between prejudice (or senseless
hatred) and the sin involved in harming something or someone who does you no
harm. Who are the “three mockingbirds” in this story?
Ans:
a.)Boo Radley
b.)Tom Robinson
c.)Dolphus Raymond
6. Many people in the story influence Scout’s values beliefs. What does each of the
following teach her?
a.) Jem= Teaches her to deal with many types of situations in her life , he stops Scout from hurting
Walter and tells her how to deal with Aunt Alexandra .
b.) Ms. Maudie= Allows tells scout the truth in an unbiased way and allows her to know about the real
affairs of Maycomb .
c.) Atticus=Gives Scout moral education , such as when he told scout to be courageous by giving her
Mrs. Dubose’s example.
d.) Calpurnia= Teaches her to treat everyone equally despite race , color or wealth.
e.) Mr. Cunningham= Mr. Cunningham teaches Scout honesty . The Cunninghams know what they can
afford and cannot afford , thus they don't take advantage of others by telling them lies , they are honest
and if they cannot pay someone back , they will not ask for a favor from them in the first place.

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