To Kill A Mockingbird Themes

In the book entitled To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells the story of the life of siblings, Jem and Scout, who grew up in the depths of the Great Depression. Their father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer at the time facing a challenging case that brings him to the realization that he needs to find the balance between what is best for his family, for his client, and for himself. Harper Lee’s purpose of writing this novel is to entertain by providing informing the reader how the life of a 1930s family going through a series of dramatic events later changed their lives. The three themes addressed in the novel are growing up, courage, and prejudice.

First, the recurring theme of growing up tends to occur with Jem and Scout getting older as time

Dubose. “Atticus looked around from behind his paper. He was in his chair by the window. As we grew older Jem and I thought if generous to allow Atticus thirty minutes to himself after supper He sighed and said rape was a carnal knowledge of a female by force without consent” (180). Here, Scout had just asked Atticus what rape is after figuring out that is what Tom Robinson was accused for. This took courage from Atticus because he did not want to tell Scout just yet and wished to avoid the question but he answered her anyway, because she needed the answer. “It’s [courage] when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through now matter what. You rarely win, but you sometimes do. Mrs Dubose won… According to her views she died beholding nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (149). After Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus tells Jem and Scout the reason she died, and how she lived her life. The amount of courage Mrs. Dubose had was tremendous because it was hard for her quit her addiction to morphine even when she was dying, she knew that losing her addiction may not make a difference in whether or not she was going to live longer or not, but she still committed to it. To sum up, one of the ways the theme courage is portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird is through the characteristics of Atticus and Mrs.