In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there is a theme that cures racism, bigotry, and class warfare. That theme is based on not killing mockingbirds. The theme is destroying the innocence. I will tell you how that theme is explored and how that would work today.
In the book there are certain characters that are considered mockingbirds because they are innocent and their innocence is destroyed by evil. These characters are Scout, Boo Radley, Jem, and Tom Robinson. Scout’s innocence was destroyed throughout the story as she was exposed to more and more stuff a child her age should not be exposed to. Such as racism. Scout did not really understand racism but because she was exposed she eventually found out about.
This theme is explored through a lot of symbolism throughout the book. For example, as i mentioned earlier how some characters symbolize mockingbirds. In the book it is mentioned that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds do no harm to humankind and all they do is make music for us to listen to.(“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their
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How? You may ask. Well being a bigot is basically when you don’t tolerate someone who doesn’t hold the same opinion as you. It’s like a thing were if you’re racist, then you’re most likely are a bigot. As I said before, the “mockingbirds” were exposed bigotry. One of them was Tom Robinson. He was a negro man who was accused of raping a girl named Mayella Ewell. Everybody believed that he was guilty just because he was black. Atticus Finch was a lawyer assigned to defend Tom Robinson so the people of Maycomb County (who most of them were racist) all thought Atticus was a traitor because he was defending a person who wasn’t