1. Themes And Symbols The Coexistence of Good and Evil Atticus is the Law
Southern Life and Racial Injustice
The Importance of a Moral Education/Class Structure
Courage and Compassion
Gender Roles
Mockingbirds as the Innocents

2. Themes: Coexistence of Good & Evil
Explore the moral nature of human beings--Are people essentially good or essentially evil?
Scout and Jem assume that people are good because they have never seen evil.
Develop this throughout the novel in order to understand their world.
The Threat that Prejudice and Ignorance pose to the Innocent
Tom and Boo are not prepared for the evil they encounter and, as a result, are destroyed.
Jem is victimized to an extent by his discovery of the evil of racism during and after the trial
Scout maintains her basic faith in human nature despite the outcome of Tom’s trial, but Jem’s faith in justice is badly damaged

3. Atticus is the Law Atticus is the moral voice
is virtually unique in the novel in that he has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness
Understand that people are grey, not black/white; good/evil
Recognizes that the good qualities must be appreciated
Understands the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy and trying to see life from their perspective “until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”
Shoots the Rabid dog
Heck Tate refuses to shoot the dog, claiming Atticus is the better man for the job
Zeebo (black citizen) must help clean up the animal after it is shot
Symbolic of his fight against the town’s racism with no help from other white citizens.

4. Southern Life and Racial Injustice
Part One focuses on:
the children’s fascination with Boo Radley
the comfort/safety of their neighborhood
Alexandra awards a caste system to the neighborhood
Geneology determines the neighbors’ habits and personalities (drinking habits, gambling problems, walking with a hunch)
The South itself, with its traditions and taboos, drives the novel
Part Two focuses on:
“the spirit-corodding shame of the civilized white Southerner in the treatment of the Negro” says book reviewer Harding LeMay
Centers around race relations- the reactions of races to issues involved
Shaped by :
Rosa Parks (1955)
Autherine Lucy and Polly Myers Univ. of Alabama admittance in 1956-
(possibly the two most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction)

5. The Importance of Moral Education
In a sense, the plot of the story charts Scout’s moral education and the theme of how children are educated– how they are taught to move from innocence to understanding
Atticus plays a key role in this development
Devotes himself to instilling a social conscience in Jem and Scout
School scenes provide a contrast to Atticus’s effective education
Scout is frequently confronted with teachers who are either frustratingly unsympathetic to children’s need or morally hypocritical
Sympathy and Understanding are the most important lesson
Atticus’s methods vs. Miss Caroline’s rigidity

6. Courage and Compassion
The novel has been noted for its poignant exploration of different forms of courage.
Compassion
Scout’s impulsive inclination to fight students who insult Atticus
Scout ponders the implication of loneliness when she hears Mayella’s testimony, who believes Atticus is making fun of her when he asked who her friends are.
At the end of the novel, Scout considers the events of the novel from Boo’s persepctive
Courage/Respect for Others
“…when you’re licked before you begin but you being anyway and you see it through no matter what…”- Atticus
Helping Mrs. Dubose break her morphine addiction
Defending Tom Robinson

7. Gender Roles
Throughout the novel, Scout begins to realize what being a female really means by observing and comparing females she encounters.
Positive Influences:
Calpurnia and Miss Maudie: both are independent, strong-willed, and protective
Alexandra: Although wildly prejudiced and very outspoken, conducts herself appropriately according to “Southern Etiquette”
Negative influences:
Alexandra: criticizes Scout for her “boyish” attitude and rude tongue
Mrs. Dubose: chastises her for not wearing a dress, implicating she is “ruining the family name”
Mayella Ewell: destroys and innocent man just to hide her own desire for him
Absent mother and abusive fathers
Moms: Scout and Jem’s (dead), Mayella’s (dead), and Mrs. Radley (silent on Boo’s confinement)
Dads: Bob Ewell (abuser/molester), Mr. Radley (imprisons his son in the house)

8. Symbol: Mockingbirds To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence.
“Mockingbirds” in the novel= innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil
Atticus: publically ridiculed b/c he chose to defend a negro. Maycomb conveniently forgets the reputation for fairness and justice he has built for himself
Helen Robinson: tried her best to bring up her family after Tom’s death but is pestered by the Ewell’s and ignored by the “do-gooders”
Mrs. Dubose: is hated by the children (misunderstood)
Miss Maudie: loves her flowers; for this, certain religious people say she belongs to the devil
Miss Caroline Fisher: experiences difficulties during her first year teaching b/c she has come from away and does not understand the ways of Maycomb people
To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence.

9. Mockingbirds, cont.
Mayella Ewell: victim of family circumstances; b/c of father, she is poor and friendless, and her loneliness causes her to seduce Tom Robinson.
The Cunninghams: their poverty has made them suffer, but they are hardworking and proud
Dill: sent away to Maycomb each summer b/c his parents are separated and his mother wants her freedom
Jem and Scout: victimized by their father’s actions; both are innocent victims who are caused to suffer through no fault of their own