Please take notes on the text in RED. Theme in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

What is theme? THEMES are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Examples: Two themes in the Harry Potter books and movies are: the power of love, (Harry can love, which is what makes him more powerful than Voldemort) and the value of humility (Harry, who is humble and doesn’t brag about himself, is more successful than someone like Draco Malfoy who brags about his family and their money and power.)

Another example of theme… One theme of the “Star Wars” movies is good versus evil (the Jedi against the Sith). One theme of the “Twilight” books is choice (the Cullen family make the choice not to feed on humans, though it is in their nature as vampires to do so).

Themes of “To Kill a Mockingbird” There are three main themes of “To Kill a Mockingbird”: 1. The Coexistence of Good and Evil: The novel shows the reader the transition of Scout and Jem from innocent children, when they assume that all people are good, to a more adult perspective where they encounter evil, prejudice and hatred. The character representing moral good is Atticus, the character representing moral evil is Mr. Ewell (the father of the girl who claims that Tom Robinson raped her).

2. Prejudice and Injustice. (Prejudice: forming judgement before knowing the facts; Injustice: lack of justice, wrong). The book starts out cheerful and positive about Maycomb, but then as it goes on, Scout begins to see the cruel prejudice of the Maycomb people against blacks, and their disgust that Atticus is defending a black man in court. Scout and her brother begin to learn of how unfair society is, that a whole race of people can be mistreated because of the color of their skin, and some people are seen as less important because they don’t have much money.

3. Courage: What makes true courage? Scout and Jem get guns for Christmas, and are very exited by this. They later see Atticus take a perfect shot at a rabid dog from a long distance, and both are very impressed. But Atticus teaches them that courage isn’t holding a gun. Courage is “when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” Atticus shows true courage by accepting Tom Robinson’s case, even though he knows that he cannot win it, because of the prejudice of the people of Maycomb.