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What Are The Themes In To Kill A Mockingbird

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"you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb in his skin and walk around in it" (Harper Lee). Harper Lee 's’ story “Too Kill a Mockingbird” is set in the 1930’s during the Great depression. Published in the 1960’s, this book won the hearts of many readers, as well as the Pulitzer prize.

In her social commentary, there’s many themes that play a prodigious role in this book. Weather it be Racism, Morality, or innocence, it shows substantial examples of all three themes.

To demonstrate, racism probably holds the utmost importance as a theme in this novel. Racism against blacks is especially endemic. For example, Tom Robinson a gentle, physically disabled negro is accused of rape. In the novel you later find out that Mayella Ewell the rape “victim” falsely accuses Tom. Due to his physical appearance, and the fact that he was a “likely …show more content…

With that being said, innocence being ended is also a major theme in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” For example, Jem is the only one between him and Scout that truly understand what’s going on. He understands that what’s happening with Tom Robinson is wrong. After the judge convicts Tom as being guilty Jem tells his father “it ain 't right, Atticus” (212). Later in the novel Tom tries to escape prison and ends up being killed and that crushes many hearts, including Jems. The next way his innocence is put to a halt is when Bob Ewell breaks his arm. Jem has never done anything to Bob, and Bob killed his innocence both physically and mentally. Tom is also another victim of innocence being ceased. While reading the book there’s no doubt that Tom is innocent but when he got convicted he knew from there he’d never be free. Atticus says “ I told him what i thought, but I couldn’t in truth say that we had more than a good chance. I guess Tom was tired of white men’s chances and preferred to take his own (236). Consequently, Tom 's innocence was killed the

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The book Witness, by Karen Hesse was a wonderful story about many different characters changing, because in 1924 the Klu Klux Klan known as the KKK, moved into a small town in Vermont. The KKKs are just a very Terrific, and was racist to a lot of people who just hate on many other races. This story surrounds 2 important character; Esther, and Leonora being on the KKK “target or hated list”, however those two weren’t alone. They faced these problems together, and they had each other when needed. A theme that shows up often in the book Witness is racism.

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There are many examples of innocence in To Kill a Mockingbird. One is when Scout and Jem discover that he Atticus can shoot extremely well. This is demonstrated when Atticus shot the dog that was diseased. (chapter 10) Another is when Jem cries when Tom is found guilty.

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In Harper Lee’s classic novel, ‘’To Kill a Mockingbird’’, the protagonist, and father of the narrator, Atticus Finch goes through many issues in his attempts to overcome separate forms of adversity, for many different reasons. In order to prevent these difficult situations, Atticus would have to risk his safety, reputation, and life. Finch had a distorted family life. Widowed only a few years prior to when the story takes place, Atticus worked incredibly hard as a lawyer, in order to support his two children, Jem and Scout.

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'Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty...' I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each "guilty" was a separate stab between them… (Lee 211). Jem and Scout Finch from the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Arnold Spirit (Junior) from The Absolutely True Diary by Sherman Alexie all show that innocence is lost when compassion is found. In To Kill A Mockingbird, both Jem and Scout show innocence.

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“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Harper Lee). Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful book that is enjoyed by many people. The book was published in 1960 but is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Lee shows many different ways of what was wrong with society during that time.

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Tom was accused of raping a white woman who was Mayella Ewell, Mayella said he raped her while he was helping her with chores. She later on tells the readers that it was false allegations. The reason why she didn 't tell the truth at her first trial was because, Mayella was afraid of being embarrassed because she kissed a black male. She rather have an innocent man get charged with a crime than that. “However, Robinson was transferred from the state prison to Maycomb 's county jail on Saturday, two days before he stood trial on Monday, and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob”.

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(Need a hook). The author uses of view of a child, Scout Finch, along with two other children, Jem Finch and Dill, to show the innocence of children is taken away from the coming of age. She uses a trial against a black man raping a white girl to show how children are innocent. Harper Lee uses life lessons to show that Scouts coming of age. Scout says, “Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in” (Lee 129).

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Scout lost her innocence when she was exposed to all the racism and hate most people of Maycomb had for her father like when all the kids at school were being mean and saying the racist things they heard they’re parents say about atticus defending Tom and her asking the question “do you defend n-word?” and Atticus explaining why he did and teaching her it isn’t okay to refer to people like that even tho she was eqivocate on the meaning of it. The next reason I have for Scout losing her innocence is when she is at the trial and she wants atticus to win “ I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: guilty.... guilty.... guilty….” (pg. 282) and it turns out he loses because Tom is black and that’s when she realizes that it isn’t fair and a black person not getting a fair trial is a sham and it’s pretty reprehensible for white people to treat black people that way.

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The next example of the theme of innocence is yet another mockingbird Jem. Jem’s innocence is a childish one. Although it can be argued that he is not a mockingbird there are also telltale signs that he is. Jem starts out in the book as a child he views the people of Maycomb as all being naturally good. Textual evidence that supports this is "it 's like being a caterpillar in a cocoon, that 's what it is," he said.

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Innocence is a word used to describe someone 's purity. Children are prime examples of innocence, as they don’t have judgments and don’t understand mature topics. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the reader can interpret innocence as the growing up of the children. Specifically, Jem Finch showed a loss of innocence as he grew up. He showed his loss of innocence by not playing games, his more mature use of words and body language, and his different view of the world around him.

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Another example of racism would be Tom Robinson and his whole court case; despite all the clear evidence that Atticus, a lawyer, provided, the jury, which is made up of all white prejudice men, were in favor of Mr. Ewell, a nasty white man, instead of Tom, who was not only black but crippled. Regardless of the fact that the jury was well aware of the fact that the Ewell family is known for being nasty, lying, no-gooders, An example of this is when Atticus states his views on the Ewell family as, “the disgrace of Maycomb.” The fact that they were white, is what aided them in winning the case. Causing the jury to send a blind eye to the fact that Mayella and possibly the rest of her siblings are being abused and manipulated. Thus, resulting in Tom’s arrest for a crime he didn 't commit.

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The novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the segregated South of the 1930’s. The book is told in the eyes of an eight year old girl, Scout Finch. Her father, Atticus Finch, is an attorney who is struggling to prove the innocence of a black man incorrectly accused of rape. The historical context of the book lets one see the social status of different groups during the civil rights era. The story explores who fits into certain societies, who is respected in the community, written and unwritten rules concerning family, gender, age, and race, expectations of certain people, and what conflicts arise out of tension.

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In the novel, racism is most prevalent when Atticus takes up a case where a African-American man has been accused of raping a white girl, and Atticus is fighting for Tom Robinson who is the accused rapist. Tom Robinson, the kindly, meek and physically disabled black accused of the rape, is the target of innumerable racial taunts and is regularly referred to by angry white town folks as a “nigger.” Later, in scenes involving Tom Robinson and the angry white mobs that aim to lynch him that reveal

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The Mockingbird Spirit of Innocence How do you define innocence? Is there someone out in the world who is purely innocent? To understand innocence you should look at what a mockingbird does, because all they do is sing. In Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus and Miss Maudie teach Scout and Jem that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

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