To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

1. Conflict of Good vs Evil

   • Loss of innocence: As Jem and Finch grow up they come to learn about the good and evil of society
   • Motif: Gothic Details – forces of good and evil are huge in the small town of Maycomb County, certain events are out of place in the predictable town.
   • Symbolism: Mockingbird, “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
   • Foreshadowing: “I wouldn’t be so sure of that Atticus…His kin’d do anything to pay off a grude. You know how those people are.”
   • Boo Radley saves the children when Bob Ewell tries to harm them

2. Racial Prejudice

   • The presence of racism is examined through the legal system and the small community/Southern state situation
   • “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.”
   • Townspeople are prejudice - Scout's teacher and Mrs Merriweather
   • Racial slurs are extremely common amongst the townspeople
   • Many white people believed that African Americans should be convicted as they were 'always guilty' no mater what
   • Racial prejudice is so severe, that when Atticus defends Tom the town becomes prejudice towards him

3. Systematic Power + Oppression

   • ”Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levellers, and in our courts all men are created equal.”
   • Systematic powers have the influence over whether innocent men are put in prison
   • Societal norms influence the legal system
   • Tom Robinson is convicted as guilty
   • Society oppresses individuals like Boo Radley because they are different from everyone else
   • Tom Robinson is shot and killed in prison - system ensures that this man will never achieve justice