To Kill A MockingbirdThemes…there are a lot of them

For those of you still unclear what we mean by theme.

Theme= the central idea in a piece of writing or work of art.

A novel often has more than one theme, or might have one primary them, and several secondary themes.

BRAINSTORM

• Think Pair Share= with a partner, list the themes you can identify in

To Kill A Mockingbird

1. Good vs Evil

• Most important theme of the novel is the exploration of the moral nature of human beings.• Are people essentially good or essentially evil?• As children, Scout and Jem assume most people are good because

they haven’t seen evil- especially not from an adult perspective. • As the book progresses, they move from a perspective of innocence

to experience.• Scout maintains her basic faith in human nature- Jem’s faith in justice

and humanity is damaged and leaves him disillusioned.

2. Morality and Ethics

• Atticus is perhaps the best example in the book of a “moral” character. He tries to instill a sense of morality in his children.• He especially wants his children to develop sympathy and

understanding for others.

• He thinks that EVERYONE deserves a fair trial, Maycomb thinks that only white men do.

• Your beliefs can get you into a lot of trouble, but if they are moral, you might just end up dragging others in a more satisfactory direction

Questions on Morality and Ethics

• What do individual characters in the novel base their ideas of right and wrong on?• How does the community work to enforce collective standards of

morality? Where do those collective standards come from?• What moral principles does the novel suggest are desirable? Does

anything in the novel undermine these moral principles? Are there times when the novel appears to be hypocritical?• Does Bob Ewell have bad morals or no morals? What's the difference?

3. Racism and Prejudice

• Another predominant theme in the novel is that of Racsim and Prejudice.• Examples abound….that means there are a lot of them!

Questions about Race and Prejudice

• How does the novel portray its African-American characters? Are there elements of racism in these portrayals?• How is the African-American community similar to the white

community in Maycomb? How is it different? How might these similarities and differences affect how the two communities see each other?• How might Maycomb, and the events of the novel, be different if

there were more than two races represented in the town?• Does the novel seem to think that racism will eventually be

overcome? Or will there always be an element of racism in Maycomb?

4. Social Inequality

• Differences in social status are explored largely through the overcomplicated social hierarchy of Maycomb.• This hierarchy baffles the children.• The relatively wealthy Finches are at the top, then most of the

townspeople beneath them, then uneducated country farmers (the Cunninghams), then “white trash” like the Ewells, and finally the black community.

5. Justice and Judgment

In a criminal case, a jury of one’s peers is the ideal when determining innocence or guilt.The reality in the book: a group of white men who weren’t influential enough to get out of jury duty.

In TKAM, justice is a privilege not a right. -Best opportunity for a fair trial- be born white!

Questions about Justice and Judgment• Does Tom Robinson receive a fair trial under the law? Why or why

not? Would having an all-black jury have resulted in a different verdict?• According to the novel, is it ever justified to act outside the law in

order to ensure justice? If so, when is it justified? If not, what do you do when the law allows injustice?• What's the novel's take on the American legal system? What are its

strengths, and what are its weakness?

6. Fear

• There is an undercurrent of fear throughout the novel.

• Early in To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel paraphrases Franklin D. Roosevelt's inaugural address: "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.“• Fear makes people lash out against what scares them to restore a

familiar order.

Questions about Fear

• Tom is disabled and seems like a nice, unthreatening guy. So why is Maycomb so scared of him?• Why is Mayella so frightened on the witness stand? Who is

frightening her?• What does the novel say about what things should be considered

scary, and what shouldn't?• What's the relationship here between fear and race?

7. Family

• In To Kill a Mockingbird, family is destiny.• Within the confines of a small town where the same people have

lived for generations, no one can escape…becoming their parents. Horror! • For better or worse, parents usually raise their children to be like

them.• “Family” in Maycomb creates an attitude of comfortable familiarity

and predictability. This makes progress- both individually and as a community, difficult.

Questions about Family

• What's the effect of having the Finch children call their father by his first name? What does that suggest about their characters? About his? Their relationship? Do you know anyone who calls their parents by their first name? (Do you?)• Why is Aunt Alexandra so obsessed with Old Family and Finch pride? What

does she hope to accomplish by making Scout and Jem feel that as well?• How does family intersect with class in the novel?• What do the examples of good and bad parents in the novel suggest about

the best way to raise kids?• How does Maycomb's African-American community think about the idea of

family?

8. Youth

• The novel looks at the idea of whether or not kids are just mini versions of the adults they will someday be, or whether something substantial happen between childhood and adulthood.

• One gains a little and one will lose a little as they grow up.

Questions about Youth

• How does the novel think of children as different from adults? Are there any adults who have child-like perspectives? How about children with adult outlooks?• What difference does it make to the novel that it's narrated from a

child's perspective? How would the book be different if an adult perspective was dominant?• According to the novel, what happens in the process of growing up?

What factors determine what kind of adult a child becomes?• Is identity fixed in childhood, or can it change over time?

9. Women and Femininity.

• Scout believes being called a girl is the worst thing possible!• The women in this novel are a product of the timeframe. Women

have their “place” and it isn’t in the world of men. • This does not mean their influence is not felt.• Through the course of the novel, with influence from Aunt Alexandra

and Miss Maudie, she learns that being a lady can take as much courage as being a tomboy.

Questions about women and femininity.• Why does Scout take being called a girl as an insult? Would she have

felt differently if she had an older sister instead of a brother? Why are there no other little girls in the novel?• What effect does not having a mother have on Jem and Scout? Is

Calpurnia a female role model for Scout, or does Scout just see her as "black" rather than as a woman?• Why does being a lady require different skills than being a gentleman?

Is there any overlap?

10. Compassion and Forgiveness.

• The novel presents some pretty reprehensible characters. People who are evil and unkind.• It asks: How do you feel compassion for someone who is clearly

undeserving?

• Some people would say don’t bother!• The novel’s answer is that you do so with a little goodness, a little

humility and a lot of imagination.• There is a risk that the person may be as nasty as you suspect, but that

is the risk a good person should be willing to take.

Questions about Compassion and Forgiveness• Is there anyone who the novel suggests isn't deserving of compassion

and forgiveness? If so, who and why? If not, why not?• Lots of characters feel pity and compassion for other characters. What

does the object of a character's compassion reveal about that character?• Is compassion learned or innate in the novel? Or both?• Why does Atticus refuse to pity Mayella?• Do you think Tom feels compassion for Mayella after she accuses him

of rape? Why is it unforgivable for him to feel sorry for her in the first place?