To Kill A Mockingbird “ Well it’d be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” The historical fiction novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a young girl growing up the small town of Maycomb, during the Great Depression. She experiences many unexpected things throughout her childhood. In chapter 30, the author uses the literary elements conflict and character to develop the theme hiding the truth can protect others. Atticus Finch and Heck Tate disagree about what happened between Bob Ewell and the kids, which shows that people can have different ideas about what’s right and wrong. In chapter 30, as Heck Tate continuously tries to explain to Atticus that Jem never stabbed Bob, he challenges Atticus’s power and authority by threatening to call him a liar to his face. Heck says, “ ‘It ain’t your decision, Mr. Finch, … If you wanta try, I’ll call you a liar to your face. Your boy never stabbed Bob Ewell,’ he said slowly…”(278). The conflict between Atticus and Heck highlights the tension between them. This shows that people having different perspectives on the same thing can lead to the truth being terrible. …show more content…
In chapter 30, Hech Tate speaks to Atticus about Bob’s death and explains Boo Radley should not be convicted for doing everyone a favor. He states, “ ‘To my way of thinkin’, Mr Finch, taking the man who's done you and this towns a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight—to me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man, it’d be different.’ ” (279). Heck Tate lies about the incident because if he tells the truth to the town, it will affect Boo Radley’s life more than it needs to. This conveys the idea of Heck’s character being idolized by holding his decision firm on his tongue during the conflict with