Examples Of Good And Evil In To Kill A Mockingbird

Did Atticus do the Right Thing? In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is a lawyer and a father of two children named Jem and Scout. Atticus comes across a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of assaulting a white women. Atticus decides to defend Tom Robinson, but did he do the right thing? I believe that Atticus did do what was right.

Harper Lee uses two major fatherly figures to represent good and evil in "To Kill a Mockingbird". In the book, Harper Lee uses Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell to show the good and bad sides of humans. Even though Harper Lee shows Atticus and Bob to be alike because they are both fathers, old and live in Maycomb, they are a lot different with their own qualities and views. Harper Lee characterizes Atticus as good and Bob as evil.

This can be shown in multiple instances throughout the novel. Although Bob is a father, he does not carry out his responsibilities when it comes to caring for his children. For example, he doesn’t make his children attend school so they do not have the proper education. In addition, he is an alcoholic and spends all of the money he has, which is not a lot, on alcohol instead of food, clothes, and other necessities. When he is drunk, he beats his children as well. Failing to carry out his duties as a father is not the only example that proves he has no integrity or moral goodness. Bob also lied under oath about Tom Robinson raping Mayella, when he was the one who actually beat and raped. If he did have moral values, he would have told the truth and took responsibility for his actions. His actions and behavior are shown best when he spits on Atticus and threatens him as a sign of disrespect and hatred for representing a black man in court. In the story, he doesn’t show guilt at all after making the immoral choice to accuse Tom Robinson of rape and beating Mayella. Overall, Bob Ewell does not stand for any morals and therefore is not person of

Ewell. When Mr. Ewell threatens him, he thinks of it as a good thing because it saves Mayella Ewell from another beating (Lee 9). He also thinks that in the future, white people will pay for how they treated black people and hopes that it does not happen in his children’s time because he does not want it to affect them (Lee 10). He also believes that if he does not help Tom Robinson with his case in court, he cannot ever go back to church or ask Jem and Scout to mind him ever again because God’s law says to be kind to all even enemies (Lee 5). Atticus is very kind to everyone he meets, even if he or she does not deserve

By truly defending Tom Robinson in court, he shows his kids that even though Tom may be of a different race, he is still a human being who deserves equal treatment. Atticus tries to show his kids throughout the novel that they should not treat a person differently based on their skin color, but instead based on how that person treats others. Next, Atticus teaches equality to his children is by explaining to them the misbehavior of others. In this case, Mr. Ewell is the character with many unadmirable actions. Atticus says “‘whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash’”(220). The moment Atticus calls Mr. Ewell trash marks a spot inside Scouts mind. Atticus is always teaching Jem and Scout to be respectful to others. Therefore, when he calls Mr. Ewell trash, Scout realizes the power and meaning behind what her father had just said. By judging a person's actions instead of their appearance, Atticus is able to understand why people do what they do. He realizes that Mr. Ewell accused Tom of raping his daughter because he was trying to regain any chance he had for the community to think more highly of him and his family. Bob

It seems that the world has become so cruel to itself. Have you felt it? In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are examples of cruelty as shown by the character, Boo Radley. “‘Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside.’” (Lee, 227) This quote comes from Jem Finch, talking about why he thought Boo stayed away from the rest of the world. There are also examples of cruelty shown by the characters Tom Robinson and Dolphus Raymond.

When I think about humanity I think of the book "To kill a Mockingbird" I go to this book because its a prime example of humanity, it shows in the 1930's that some to most white people in the south did not have any to no respect for the african american's they where accused of almost everything even if they did not do kinda of like how Tom Robinson was accused of raping May-Ella Ewell, Tom was sent to jail for something he did not do. What they sent the whole Robinson family through was cruel even since he was innocent but back then the people thought differently on what was cruel and what was not cruel another part that does not show humanity is later on when Tom Robinson is in jail he gets killed for being african american and since he was

In the book to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a young girl is being put through a variety of challenges that have set her up to learn about aspects of life. Scout, the young girl is being put through situations throughout the book, and is going through different moral developments that have been set up into three levels by Kohlberg, a psychologist. Kohlberg gathered this information by giving people of different ages, different questions that would identify their moral stage (“Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development”). For example, some of the questions would be; if you were trapped in a room full of innocent people and someone dying would be the only way to save everyone else in the room would you risk yourself? On that

The world we live in contains people, people that are evil. Within the world throughout history and even today people show themselves to be more good than evil. In To Kill A Mockingbird, The Emmett Till trial, and the recent rape/sexual battery and other sex acts against 4 teenage girls in Mentor, Ohio the evil prevails. People have been treated like property since the world began. The world can not be trusted to be full of good. People are more evil than good.

Bob Ewell is a wretched, two-faced, conniving most unworthy person to have the gift of life in all of Alabama. He drinks a lot, does not bother to work, and he just collects welfare checks and spends them on alcohol. Harper Lee wrote, “a little bantam cock of a man . . . A shock of wispy new-washed hair stood up from his forehead; his nose was thin, pointed, and shiny; he had no chin to speak of—it seemed to be part of his crepey neck”(Lee 227) Harper describes Bob Ewell as a apathetic, tipsy, Neanderthal that can’t keep a job to save his skin. During Tom Robinson’s trial Bob Ewell tried to say that he beat his daughter Mayella and then raped her; when in in reality Bob Ewell is the one who beat Mayella. Another reason Bob Ewell is terrible person is at the end of the story when he tried to kill Scout and Jem. Harper Lee had wrote, “What is it, Heck? Said Atticus. Mr. Tate found his neck and rubbed it. Bob Ewell’s lyin’ on the ground under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He’s dead, Mr. Finch. (Lee 357). Mr. Ewell had aimed to kill Scout and Jem but Mr. Author James Radley, more commonly known as Boo Radley, saved their lives. Mr. Ewell was mad at Atticus because he knew that it wasn’t Tom who beat Mayella and raped her, so Bob Ewell saw that he could get back at Atticus by taking the lives if the two most important people in the world to him. Bob Ewell illustrates the dark side of

There were 17,250 people dead. This is the amount of people murdered last year in the U.S. alone. Why does this happen? Pure cruelty. There is tight tensions with the U.S. and North Korea that could start a nuclear war and kill most of us. Why is this possible? Cruelty between one another. This is just two examples of the cruelty in our world today and for the passed hundreds of years. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird cruelty plays a big part in the problems that go on in this small town in Alabama. I think if cruelty was eliminated Tom Robinson wouldn’t be dead, Boo Radley wouldn’t hide, and the whole view on equality between blacks and whites would change.

The main Ewell child of the novel, she is beaten by her father when it is discovered that she tried to seduce a black man (Lee 203). Later, continuing to set a horrible example for his children, Bob Ewell goes out to attack Jem and Scout in an attempt to end their short lives (Lee 263). Suffice to say, Ewell continues to set horrible example after horrible example for his children on how to lead their lives, beating them in the process. It is no wonder that they ended up “mean ones” and liars, after all.

Although the main theme is “coming of age”, there is a secondary theme or subplot that should not go unnoticed. It is a more basic concept that could be simplified as whether or not people are essentially good. In the beginning of the story, most of the characters are seen as good people. This was because of Scout’s childhood innocence as she had not been exposed to all of the evil that one would notice with an adult perspective. One of the conflicts, the trial, is a catastrophe and changes the children’s viewpoint on life. As Tom Robinson is wrongfully accused of raping Mayella Ewell, Scout and Jem witness first-hand how the jury was influenced by the evil of racism even though the facts did not support the verdict. “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson.”(282) Scout and Jem were in shock after Tom was condemned because although they were young, they understood that he was innocent. This passage contained significant exposure of corrupt human nature. Jem was victimized by witnessing the evil of racism during the trial and retreated to a state of disillusionment. Later in the story, Atticus follows this theme to teach Jem that people can contain good and evil within them. This was the case with Mrs. Dubose as she fought her morphine addiction as Jem read to her despite her constant deploring of racism.

The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is often associated with a various number of themes such as racism, social inequality, the importance of family values, and much more. But one of the more hidden messages of the book centers around the idea that there is a coexistence of good and evil. This theme is really brought to life the more the reader is able to understand the book. Through sub themes such as coming of age, perspective, and intense characterization of many important characters the idea of good and evil is really brought to light.

Earlier in the novel, Scout relates that Atticus views the Ewell family as “the disgrace of Maycomb” (33). However, as the Ewells are a white family, they are having a higher social status. During the trial, it is declared that Mayella seduces Tom Robinson, and her father, Bob Ewell, thought that his daughter would shift her warm feelings for a black man. In addition, Bob Ewell’s reaction to his daughter kissing to Tom Robinson displays the fear of miscegenation. Atticus, however, strives for justice. Atticus explains the ugly truth to Jem and Scout: “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (251-252). Atticus shows disgust with white people taking advantage of a black person’s ignorance” (252). Tom Robinson is facing a trial and the death sentence because he is black. Furthermore, Atticus makes it clear to his children that racism exists and tells Scout and Jem: 'In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always