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To Kill A Mockingbird Themes

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To Kill a Mockingbird is a very complex book with multiple different themes presented within it. These themes are shown through the characters in the story and how they react to the situations they were thrown in to. The largest role in the book is actually played by the setting of the story due to it being set in southern Alabama in the 1930s. This makes more troubles and confusion for the characters because of the racist lifestyle most people in this time period lived by. Harper Lee created characters to be blinded by ignorance and show hatred for people proven innocent of misdeed. Through analyzing the characters Arthur Radley, the Ewells, and Tom Robinson showed the theme “The evil in the world isn’t always what society believes it is so …show more content…

The people of Maycomb have no sympathy for Mayella or what is happening in her broken down home until they realize a colored man is involved. Tom Robinson is innocent of this crime but citizens of Alabama would never want to admit two white people are lying and a colored man is telling the truth. “Yes, suh. I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em--” (Lee 264). Tom Robinson only wanted to help Mayella with her chores out of pure kindness when Mayella kissed him. Her father saw this and shouted profanities and threats at Mayella from the window, then Mayella so happens to have bruises on her body when Tom runs away. Tom Robinson was believed to be guilty by the court despite being proven innocent with secure evidence. “Throughout the episode, Tom never discloses any darker motive, any bitterness or wrath or lust. He is generous, obedient, responsible, and honest. A broken young woman and her dangerous father threaten his life, but he has no harsh words for them,” (Iannone 243-278). Tom Robinson was never the evil that society thought he was and has to pay the greatest price for racism, his own life. His image was twisted by society because of his appearance, which causes the real evil in this situation to be the family who accused him and the citizens who sealed his

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