To Kill a Mockingbird
“Discuss the major themes of to kill a mockingbird and explain which one you believe is the most important and why.”
The novel “to kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee and published in the 1960’s exhibits three major themes relevant to the era and are apparent in varying degrees in today’s society. The major themes heavily laced throughout the text are prejudice in reference to racism, bigotry held against an individual and loss of innocence throughout Scout and Jem’s experience.
The main form of prejudice evident in the novel is racial discrimination, specifically held against the innocent African American man Tom Robinson. The man was accused and later charged with the rape and brutal bashing of a white female; Mayella Ewell despite the accurate evidence presented by the defence and the lack of provided by the accuser. Throughout the entire court scene racist terms such as “nigger” and malicious accusations like “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella”(Ch. 17) were frequently directed at Tom by the father of the supposed victim, Bob Ewell.
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The man was labelled and thought by many to be a monster due to alleged incidents that occurred throughout his youth and the years, thus indicated by many conversations held by Scout and Jem. The children were under the impression that boo Radley was dangerous and the reasoning behind his isolation being he was tied to his bed until Atticus explained “It wasn’t that sort of thing, that there were other ways of making people into ghosts” (Ch. 1), the explanation challenges the popular opinion whilst the children’s beliefs further demonstrates the extent bigotry has on boo’s reputation. Events occurring towards the end of the novel prove the intentions and kind characteristics held by