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Theme Of Revenge In To Kill A Mockingbird

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According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of revenge is “to inflict injury in return for.” In To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) by Harper Lee, Scout, and Jem explore Civil Rights and racism in the segregated Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Expressed through the eyes of 7-year-old, you learn about her father Atticus Finch, an attorney who desperately tries to prove the innocence of a black man falsely accused of rape; and about Boo Radley, a mysterious neighbor who saves Scout and Jem from being slaughtered by Bob Ewell. In the scene when Jem and Scout are attacked by Bob Ewell, Lee develops the theme, revenge brings consequences through external conflict, and symbolism. Seeking destructive revenge always creates a larger issue. …show more content…

Dubose, the cranky and socially impaired lady next door to the Finches, for being rude to his family in revenge. “He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves.”(137). Jem is the one suffering when Atticus finds out and forces him to make up for it by reading to Mrs. Dubose every afternoon after school and Saturdays for two hours. In this passage, Lee uses symbolism to show how Mrs. Dubose’s flowers (camellias) represent racism, and that you can't get rid of it that easily. Even though Jem cuts the top off of all her camellias, the issue is not yet resolved because the flowers are rooted deeper than that. That’s how that single camellia was left for Jem after Mrs. Dubose died.

Lee helps establish the theme of revenge comes with consequences by using external conflict. An external conflict is a conflict between a character and an outside force. In a character vs. character conflict, it’s called an interpersonal conflict, a branch in the external conflict category. One example of Lee illustrating the theme is when Bob Ewell harrases Tom Robinson’s wife, Helen. After Tom's trial and death, Mr. Link Deas, who was

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