Loneliness In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is about a young girl and her family’s life as they grow up in Maycomb County, Alabama. During this time Scout and Jem experience the trial of Tom Robinson and the mystery of man named Boo Radley. A central theme in To Kill A Mockingbird is that loneliness can have a deeply harmful effect on society. One of the ways in which the story examines the concept that lonesomeness can considerably harm society is how Mayella Ewell’s loneliness leads to the trail of rape against Tom Robinson. During the trial Tom Robinson is testifying about the events about the Ewells’ residence.
“The witness swallowed hard. ‘She reached up an‘ kissed me ’side of th‘ face... She says, ‘Kiss me back, nigger.’ I say Miss Mayella lemme outa here an‘ tried to run but she got her back to the door…’” (Lee 260).

Here we see how Mayella threw herself at Tom without Tom’s consent. Everyone seems to agree that Mayella seems very lonely. Even scout says,”’ that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world”’ (Lee 256). It seems that due both to Mayella living with just her family and being an outcast in society, her loneliness compels her to plunge Tom and her family into trouble. Her actions lead to problems for everyone in the

When the characters are first introduced the narrator speaks of a ramshackle home at the end of the street and.
“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom...When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place...” (Lee