Monday, November 3, 2014

Themes in "To Kill a Mockingbird?"I've chosen Justice, Prejudice, and Fear as my three main themes of To Kill a Mockingbird. It's difficult to find...

The quote you related above is a good one to use for prejudice.  We see how racism (an extreme form of prejudiceness) is extended beyond the race itself to anyone who is kind to them.  Even though Atticus isn't black, he is still judged, because he is helping a black person.  He is tagged with the racist term, one step removed.  It shows just how racist people are; they can't just limit their hatred to the race itself, but to anyone who associates with the race.

Another quote you might want to use for prejudice comes from Atticus' closing argument.  He states that the Ewell's testified, "confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption-the evil assumption-that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings...we know [this] in itself is a lie as black as Tom Robinson's skin."  (chpt. 20)  Here we see white people banking on the jury being racist.

For justice, Atticus states that "there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal-...that institution, gentlemen, is a court...in this country our courts are the great levelers"  This shows that Justice should be served in the courts.  Later, when it is not, Jem complains, "You just can't convict a man on evidence like that-you can't" and Atticus replies, "They could and did." (chpt. 21) Here we see justice NOT working, with sad results.  Prejudice gets in the way.

I hope those help, and good luck!

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