theme prejudice

8/7/2019 Theme Prejudice

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To Kill a Mockingbird - Themes

Although the character of Boo Radley does not reveal himself until the end of the novel,

he is important to all of the themes present in `To Kill a Mockingbird'

One of the more dominant themes is prejudice. There are three main types of prejudice

that are explored in the novel; racial prejudice, social prejudice and fear of the unknown.

Racial prejudice is present throughout the novel in the people of Maycomb's everyday

life, as it is a novel set in the `deep south' of America in the 1930's. This is a period

shortly after the American civil war, so slavery's abolishment had occurred not long ago.

Because this had not been around for long, most people's attitudes towards Negroes

had not changed, despite efforts towards change.

The situation that shows the best examples of racial prejudice is the trial of TomRobinson. In his trial, Tom Robinson is misjudged and mistreated because he is black.

One of the most prominent examples of this is the way in which Mr. Gilmer, Tom's

prosecutor, calls Tom "boy." He uses a tone of voice, which one would use when talking

to the lowest creature on earth, towards Tom and makes him look foolish. This is all

because Tom is Black.

The worst example of racial prejudice is Tom Robinson's trial verdict. All of the evidence

produced by Atticus makes it clear that Tom is innocent, yet Tom is found "guilty". This

verdict is clearly based on the fact that Tom is black, but also that he, a black man, felt

sorry for a white woman. "I felt right sorry for her" This statement would have broughtany jury of Southern America to outrage in the 1930's. To them it was not right for a

Negro to feel pity for any member of the white community.

Another example of racial prejudice in the novel is at Aunt Alexandra's `lady's meeting'.

It also shows the hypocrisy that took place in Maycomb. Miss Merriweather goes on to

explain the "sin and squalor" that is suffered by "those poor Mrunas" and makes herself

seem most ethnically aware, but the she refers to Helen Robinson as; "That darky's

wife" The way that Miss Merriweather uses this term as if it is everyday language shows

that Negroes are not respected, and are given quite offensive names.

One person that contrasts this, however, is Atticus. He does not believe in

discriminating a person because of the colour of their skin. This is shown by the way

that he defends Tom Robinson as best he can, the fact that Tom Robinson is black

does not affect him. Racial prejudice does not connect directly with Boo Radley, but Boo

can be connected with Tom Robinson, who is a victim of racial prejudice. The


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connection is that they are both `Mockingbirds' of the novel, and are both victims of

prejudice.

Another form of prejudice quite similar to racial is social prejudice. Some members of

the Maycomb society are discriminated against by others due to their social status. Aunt

Alexandra is a prime example of this; her whole attitude towards everything is based

upon social status. She considers herself to be higher up the social ladder than quite a

few people, including Walter Cunningham."Because-he-is-trash" This is the reason that

Aunt Alexandra gives when Scout asks why she cannot speak to Walter Cunningham.

This whole `trashy' view of Walter Cunningham is based purely on the fact that he is

part of a family that are very poor, she seems not to care about Walter's personal

values.

The Ewell family are also victims of social prejudice. The whole family is looked down

upon because of he way the father, Robert Ewell' is irresponsible. The family is madeout to be, again `trashy'. Although some other members of the family are just plain

nasty. Like Burris. "Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a school teacher ever born c'n make me

do nothing" Burris' use of language gains him the title of a "real mean one". But not the

whole family is like this. Mayella is not as "mean" as others in her family, she has a

sensitive side, as it is mentioned that she looks after flowers that could "rival Miss

Maudie's"

Boo Radley is a victim of social prejudice just like Mayella Ewell and the Cunningham's.

The whole Radley family suffers social prejudice because Boo hadn't been seen for

years, and people didn't know where Mrs. Radley was. Prejudice is directed towardssome characters of the novel because they do not fit into Maycomb's usual behavioural

patterns of society and little is known of them. This prejudice is fuelled by fear, which

leads to rumour, which leads to superstition.

Boo Radley is a victim of this fear of the unknown. The children fear him, as the rest of

Maycomb does, and as a result, there are many rumours about him. Most of these

rumours are started and spread by Miss Stephanie. For example, she claimed that she

woke up in the night, and saw Boo looking in at her through her window.

The people of Maycomb liked to believe that any unsolved, mysterious, crimes were

the work of Boo due to these rumours. One example is the `Crazy Addie' incident.

Before and even after the `Crazy Addie' incident was solved - Boo was innocent -, the

people still believed it was Boo. Another example is when Mrs. Radley dies and the

children assume that Boo "finally got her".


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Another major part of `To Kill a Mockingbird' is courage. This is a more positive theme

than that of prejudice, and courage is shown by almost all of the characters in the novel.

Atticus has strong views on courage. He taught Jem and Scout to be brave, especially

Scout when he told her to stop fighting people that mock her. One person Atticus looked

up to as having "real courage" was Mrs. Dubose. He makes Jem go and read to her

because he wanted Jem to learn from her. "I wanted you to see what real courage is,

instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand" This shows

how much Atticus respected Mrs. Dubose for her courage. He called her "the bravest

person I ever knew". Atticus is trying to teach his children that he is not courageous for

shooting a crazy dog dead with one shot; he is in fact courageous for defending Tom

Robinson fairly. He teaches them that being courageous is standing up for what you

think is right.

Courage is shown within the community, by the community when there is a fire at MissMaudie's house. "The men of Maycomb, in all degrees of dress and undress, took

furniture from Miss Maudie's house to a yard across the street" The most important part

"in all degrees of dress and undress" shows that the people that came to help, came

straight away. If the men would have dressed first, then they would have thought about

whether to help or not, but they came straight from their beds to help.

During this time, with Miss Maudie's house burning down, Boo shows a small amount of

courage. He comes out of the safe hold of his house so that Scout will not be cold.

Boo's presence is not realised until after all of the commotion. "Looks like all of

Maycomb was out tonight" Atticus that it was Boo coming out and he recognises thecourage Boo had to come out face the town's prejudice.

Boo's most courageous act was when he saved Jem and Scout's lives when Bob Ewell

attacked them. When Boo saw that "his children needed him," his courage overrode the

town's prejudice and he risked his own life to save Jem and Scout's lives.

Family plays an important role in `To Kill a Mockingbird'. This theme is linked with social

prejudice by Aunt Alexandra. Aunt Alexandra is someone that considers family to be

very important, and she tries to teach Jem and Scout her views on family. Scout does

not really understand her auntie's thoughts on family, but Jem does when he explains to

Scout that; "There are four kinds of folk in the world" This shows that Jem has begun to

understand his auntie's views, and therefore the importance of family in Maycomb. He

goes on to explain that these "four kinds of folk" are; The Finch family (representing the

white-middle class), the Cunningham family (poorer, farmer class) the Ewell family

(lowest of the white folk) and the Robinson family (representing the black community)


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Although Jem believes his examples to cover everybody, they do not, however, cover

Dill's family. Dill has more of a dysfunctional family. He does not know his father, which

would have been quite strange for the 1930's. As Dill does not have a `proper' family, he

almost becomes part of the Finch family. He shoes he wants to by asking to "marry"

Scout when they grow up.

Atticus and Mr. Radley are quite different in their fathering methods. Atticus seems to be

a very good father. "he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous

detachment" As well as this, Atticus is very straightforward with his children. He would

never prefabricate the truth to make it more suitable for children; he tells it as it is.

Atticus always listens to his children's opinions and treats them with a great deal of

respect.

If Atticus ever had reason to reprimand Jem or Scout, he would explain why. Because

of this, he is greatly respected by his children. Atticus does not have a history ofphysically punishing his children, and because of this, they want it to stay that way.

"Atticus ain't ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way" Not

much is mentioned of Mr. Radley, but from what is said, we could assume that he cared

for his son, Boo, from how he "insisted that Boo not be charged with anything" after Mr.

Radley was stabbed by his son. "Mr. Radley said no Radley was going to an asylum"

Mr. Radley was quite a proud man, and he did not want his son to be seen as crazy. In

Mr. Radley's eyes "Boo wasn't crazy"

The only thing that the reader cannot be sure of is the reason for Mr. Radley keeping

Boo inside the house. The possibilities are, either he is ashamed of Boo because of his

pride or he wants to protect Boo from the town's prejudice due to the fact he cared somuch for his son. It is, however, proven that Mr. Radley's children respected him. This is

shown when Mr. Radley dies and Nathan, his other son, takes over the Radley lot, and

makes sure Boo is still kept indoors.

Dill's fascination with Boo is fuelled mostly by his excited, childish imagination. There is

a small link between the two; they are both currently without a father figure to look up to.

This may be one reason why Dill is so fascinated with Boo. Childhood plays a vital role

in the novel as the novel is a retelling of Scouts childhood. Boo is very important to this

theme as he is Jem, Scout and Dill's childhood obsession.

When Jem and Scout first meet Dill and tell him about Boo Radley, Dill's imagination is

alerted. Dill's childish games result in the children's first encounter with Boo. Jem is

dared to touch the Radley house, and he does so. After Jem has returned from

completing his task, Scout and Dill say that they saw the shutters move, and so began

their obsession.


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It is made evident that the children are excited by things of a gothic and morbid nature

when Dill mentions that he had seen the picture show of Dracula. "tell it to us" This was

Jem's reaction to Dill's announcement, and it seemed to make Jem and Scout suddenly

more interested in Dill after they weren't too bothered about him.

This fascination with things of a gothic nature is reflected by Dill in the same way Jem

did. Straight after Jem gave a grim description of Boo, Dill replied with; "Let's try to

make him come out, I'd like to see what he looks like." Again one of the children has

become very interested and excited when faced with an opportunity to see a gothic

artefact. It is curiosity and fascination that keep the children wanting to make Boo come

out.

At the beginning of the novel, the children see Boo as `something' rather than

`someone'. They do not consider Boo's feelings or privacy. However, the children's

respect for Boo does grow, along with their maturity. This is not so much evident in Dill,but Jem eventually stops all games involving Boo because he matures enough to see

Atticus' point of view. Atticus tells his children to consider things from another point of

view. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of

view- -until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." This is the lesson Atticus tries

to teach Scout, and by the end of the novel she understood what it meant. At the end,

the narrative Scout says, "Atticus was right" about not knowing a man until you see

things from their point of view.

Boo has a very important role in Part 1 of the novel, even though he is not actuallyseen. Boo is the focus of Jem and Scout's childhood games. And as Part 1 is mostly

about their childhood games, Boo is important. Although Boo is not seen at all by the

children in Part 1, and it is said that he "was not seen again for fifteen years", he does

come out of his house a few times. One time is when he brings the blanket for Scout at

Miss Maudie's house, and another is when the children are trying to look through the

shutters at the Radley place in chapter 6. A shadow, belonging to Boo, comes up

behind Jem and "stopped a foot beyond Jem". When the shadow stops Boo realises

that it is Jem and he goes away again.

Boo is not really present during Part 2 until the end, but the author does no let BooRadley slip he readers mind. Many of the characters of the trial share characteristics

with Boo. For example, Tom Robinson is a victim of prejudice, just like Boo. But the one

person that has the most important similarity to Boo is Mayella. Like Boo, Mayella is

lonely "Mayella must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier

than Boo Radley" The mention of this similarity between Boo and Mayella makes the

reader remember Boo and look for more similarities between the two.


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The author is very clever in how she makes the reader want to see Boo. All throughout

part 1 Boo is being mentioned, and the children want Boo to "come out". The author

makes the reader share the desire and excitement so much that the reader feels as

though the story will not be over until Boo is seen. And that is exactly how the story

does end. It is because of the sharing of the children's excitement that the story is

completed when Scout "gazed at him in wonder" and uttered. "Hey, Boo" These are the

words that the reader has wanted to hear ever since the children first looked upon the

Radley lace. There was probably no more a perfect way to give the story that finishing

touch.

The most important symbol in this novel is the mockingbird symbol. Most of the

characters can be related to this symbol in one way or another. A mockingbird is a small

plain bird with a song that mimics the song of other birds. The mockingbird represents

kindness, innocence and harmlessness, as is explained by Miss Maudie. "Mockingbirds

don't do one thing but make music for us t enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens,they don't nest in corn cribs..." One group of people linked to the mockingbird for

completely different reasons are Atticus, Jem and Scout. The reason is their name,

"Finch". The mockingbird is part of the Finch bird family.

The mockingbird's significance is emphasised not only by the novel's title, but also by

Atticus saying; "You can shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit `em, but

remember it is a sin to kill a mockingbird" Scout mentions that this is strange for Atticus

to call anything a "sin". So this places the importance of the mockingbird in the readers

mind.

Boo Radley and Tom Robinson's representation of the mockingbird symbol is not drawn

together until the end when Scout says that the public exposure of Boo Radley would be

"sort of like shooting a mockingbird." Both characters show mockingbird traits such as,

Kindness, innocence, vulnerability and being a victim. Boo shows kindness to the

children by leaving them gifts in the tree. He is vulnerable to, and a victim of, the town's

prejudice, but is innocent of this.

Tom shows kindness to Mayella by helping her. He is vulnerable because he is unable

to use his left arm. He is a victim of racial prejudice, and he is innocent of his accusation

of raping Mayella Ewell.

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