Themes

Prejudice

Prejudice is the preconception of bias towards certain people most likely because of physical features or cultural background. This causes cruelty towards the minority for unjust reasons. Atticus has taught his children that prejudice is unjust. Yet many of the people in this southern town, have this engraved in their minds.This has an incredibly negative effect on the recipients, even some resorting to pretending they are drunk. Prejudice encompassess a range of issues such as gender equality, racism and religious. many characters in this novel suffer from racial prejudice and most take part. As one of the characters, Dolphus Raymond put it ‘the simple hell people give other people’. He is a rather ‘fascinating’ character to many of the Maycomb folk because he does not sit with his race and he is constantly seen with a plastic bag with a straw sticking out. Dolphus comes from a wealthy family and has a dark past of his fiancee committing suicide. Although many people blame his drunkenness and ‘that's why he won't change his ways’. Infact the so-called whisky is nothing more than coca-cola. It seems like he does not care for the opinions of others, he does and he attempts to avoid the prejudice. A main character that suffers from prejudice is Scout or Jean Finch. She is considered a tomboy because of the influence of her brother and the relaxed upbringing of Atticus. Feminism (or equality for both men and women) was not a socially acceptable at that point of in a small town. Men were considered the workers with sweat and dirty while the women were housewives and taking care of kids. Many characters, most especially Aunt Alexandria, are against her unladylike traits. She is told on several occasions that she ‘shouldn’t do anything that requires pants’. The mysterious Arthur Radley has been in his house and has never set foot outside his house for 25 years. Rumours have spread because of his shelterness. He has since been thought to be a monster who eats ‘raw squirrels’ and have ‘yellowing teeth’ stained from eating the carcasses of the raw creatures. Infact he is a misunderstood man who was incredibly shy and soft spoken. A minor character that epitomizes the opposite of prejudice is Link Deas, Robertson's employer. He was willing to look past race to comment on how well a worker Tom is. Assumptions are created to create a sense of security within the community as to how certain people should act and behave, eg women are to wear dresses and recluse people are mad. It only does harm because people then do not see outside these guidelines. In a small town such as maycomb everyone is stereotyped within family, race and gender and many of these characters succumb to that.

Racism

Racism is a predominant theme in the novel and is important as the basis of the complications and the cultural context. many of the other themes spoken relate to racism and was an issue that Harper Lee tried to incorporate into the novel because of the civil rights issue occurring at the same time. The African-Americans were looked down on and treated like second class citizens. Racism played a big role in what was perceived as Good and Evil and what seemed to be a seemingly simple justice system has been corrupt in a way to bias the white race. In the Maycomb county they thoroughly believed that a black man ‘always lies’. At the courtroom evidence was placed on the table and the Ewells were known for battery and were considered ‘low-life’ in the Maycomb society. When up against a proper , hard-working young black man who seemed to be completely innocent, Tom Robertson was accused of raping the young woman. the whole basis of the novel was based on the unjust rules to make one race superior to another. The idea of racial segregation has been instilled in their minds that when many of the citizens try and defend their belief and attempt to lynch Robertson. Even Atticus has given his kids a fair warning to be expecting some beration from their peers. This case has affected these kids to give them an insight into how racially bias this town is and hopeless they are. All the African American citizens, most notably Calpurnia, and Tom Robertson, are treated as second-class citizens and the others are incredibly racist. Atticus calls this ‘Maycomb’s usual disease’ as most of the citizens, unwillingly or not are succumbed to minor acts of racism.

Family and Social Status

Family and Social Status is everything for many of the families in the Maycomb County. Prejudice is evident with your last name and what family you belong to. The Finches are a well off family and are assumed to be higher than everyone else. Whilst the Ewell family are one of the poorest of the poor and they are expected not to attend school(except for the first day every year). To outsiders like Ms. Caroline the Maycomb ways are alien and odd. The Cunningham family are one of the poorest but unlike the Ewells are hard-working and are kind hearted. Ms. Caroline is unfamiliar with the Maycomb ways and when she tries to give Walter Cunningham money to buy food, it is up to Scout to explain that he is a ‘Cunningham’ and will not be able to return the money. When Aunt Alexandra realized that her brother may be taking a controversial case she believed it would ‘destroy’ the family. The disruptive aunt refused to let Scout play with Cunningham because he is beneath her in the complicated social hierarchy. Each last name has a considered connotations to it and social standing but at that time it was an accepted fact that the African Americans were always considered lowest class. The Ewells were the lowest of the the whites and Bob Ewell feels more in power when wrongfully prosecuting Tom Robertson to make up for his lack of importance.

Morality and ethics

Although Atticus was seen as too relaxed in disciplining his children, one area he was strict on is the idea of the children’s own judgement and morality. The community has been to submerged into racism to look past it and make an unbiased opinion on certain things. Atticus treated his children like adults and believed that they could make their own formal decisions. In the three years the book covers, both Jem and Scout mature greatly and learn the true nature of the citizens of the county. What was seen as right and wrong are unclear as race takes precedence over it. Jem is confused and believes it’s ‘not right’ yet the majority of the citizens do. The trial is a classic example of this because Atticus and his children believe that everyone should have a fair trial but the other citizens of Maycomb think otherwise. they believe that only white man should deserve a fair trial and not those of color. Morality is a hard to justify because to the other citizens this is what they view as right because this is what they are taught since they were young. But as an innocent bystander it is easy to see that it is not morally correct to oppress the African Americans in Maycomb.

Innocence

Tom Robertson was wrongfully accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell. The abundant amount of evidence to prove his innocence and the father of the victim’s track record of violence was dismissed because of race. When Tom escaped from prison, he died. A mention for his death said that it was a ‘senseless slaughter’. Another innocent was Arthur Radley. Radley killed Mr Ewell to protect the children from malicious intent. He would have been brought to court and been on trial and most likely jailed because many of the citizens are unfamiliar with him and only know him from the rumours spread around. but a good samaritan, Heck Tate filed the report saying that Mr Ewell fell on his knife. The reasoning behind it was that it would be similar to ‘shooting a mockingbird’ which means killing an innocent. In this case Arthur Radley is the mockingbird and he was only protecting children, to put him up to court is persecuting a kind man. The transition from innocence to maturity between Jem and Scout is tremendous. At the beginning of the novel, truly believe in the goodness of the people and comprehends the same moral values and goals as their father does. But it slowly dawns on them, especially during the Tom Robertson trial that, the jury, made of many of their neighbours and family friends, are willing to convict an innocent man because of racial inequalities. This makes them aware and mature greatly and understand how unfair life is. This awareness shakes both children to their core but Jem is most broken to learn the disappointing truth of racism, inequality and prejudice within the community. The tile of the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, the mockingbird is a symbolism of innocence and to kill it means that the characters such as Scout and Jem need to learn how to grow up and their innocence was taken away from them.