Examples Of Good And Evil In To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird is a historical fiction novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in Alabama during the time of segregation. This novel conveys many themes such as hypocrisy, discrimination, and prejudice. Religious hypocrisy and lack of empathy is also found in this novel and contributes to those three themes. Religious hypocrisy is stating that you are a follower of that religion, however your actions directly contradict that. Empathy is when, as Atticus stated it, “you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 3).

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee demonstrates morality. To have morality is to know one’s beliefs are, and can express those beliefs through their actions regardless how a society around them reacts to those actions. In Maycomb County, everyone is discriminatory of race and unaccepting of change. In the 1930’s, if you believed in equality between blacks and whites, you were frowned upon. For example, wherever the Finch family went, the residents of Maycomb County would display bigoted rhetoric towards them and threaten their safety simply for defending Tom robinson in court. Nevertheless, Atticus never feared their actions or threats because he knew what he and his family knew what the were doing was the right thing. Atticus

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, said, “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” If more people would aspire to Harper Lee’s idea of folks, there would be less prejudice and resulting hypocrisy in the world. People are people, no matter their skin color, socio-economic status or educational level and deserve to be treated fairly and with dignity and respect. Hypocrisy happens when one claims to have high moral beliefs and virtues without consistent behaviors. To Kill A Mockingbird is the story of Scout Finch, her brother Jem, and their father Atticus set in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Atticus is a lawyer and has agreed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, who is accused of raping a white girl, Mayella

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 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.

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

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

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.

Through the eyes of an innocent child, the story of To Kill a Mockingbird introduces a world of corruption. In the disordered town of Maycomb, certain character traits are developed and displayed in a specific local family. The opposition against their beliefs brings daunting situations to their door. Yet, this one family perseveres through the continuous corruption of Maycomb. Therefore, this recurring motif of character development really plays into the characters and, consequently, the story. This evident pattern of courage composes the Finch family: Jem, Scout, and Atticus.

High school is when most first realize how judgement affects everyone’s daily life. Students often use judgement in a negative way against others, but it is possible to use judgment in a positive way. It is easy to tell how a person was raised with judgement by looking at their behavior, and a lot of times it is found that they were raised to only look at the good side of others. Atticus Finch is trying to teach his children the same thing in, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee. This book is about a little girl named Scout and her big brother Jem trying to grow up and live their lives. Atticus, their father, has taken a responsibility to be the lawyer of an African American who is accused of rape, and even when dealing with this

Adversity, struggles and misfortunes, imparts a variety lessons to a person. It assists a person in developing and becoming a stronger individual. One learns to overcome obstacles and be resilient through the obstacles they come to find. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the protagonist Scout, initially is a curious, carefree tomboy who doesn’t always recognize why situations are the way they are. Then Scout learns, through disagreements, fights, scrutiny, and other hardships, how to see the viewpoints of others. Ultimately, Scout becomes stronger and more mature than she was before as she begins to grasp why people do and say certain things. Scout demonstrates the idea that adversity can strengthen an individual, because she learns

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