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Themes in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Essay

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To kill a mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Themes are the subject of a talk, a piece of writing or a person's thoughts. There are many themes present in this great American classic such as courage, racism, prejudice, morality and of course coming of age. Lee communicates these themes with characters, events that unfold and the scenarios that Jem and Scout have to face. One of many themes that is evidently present throughout the book is prejudice. The main action is of Atticus defending the innocent ‘Tom Robinson’ who is falsely accused of the rape of a white girl. Tom is discriminated because of the colour of his skin and 99% of the population of Maycomb see nothing wrong with thinking in this way. All except the Finches really. Being …show more content…

When you write about a family with two young children obviously you can expect ‘coming of age’ themes to be prevalent in the text. Scout Finch is not your average 10 year old girl, she is not afraid to voice her opinions with her actual voice and her fists. Atticus tells her that this trait is not very proper and she should consider other peoples views before concluding her own. “Climb into another person’s skin and walk around in it” is what Atticus told Scout. From then onwards in most scenarios, that would have otherwise ended in physical violence in the past, see clenched her fists wanting to fight but walked away. To have truly ‘come of age’ they will have to take the moral advice given to them by their father and apply it to all real life situations. Scout would remember those words and walk away showing signs of maturity and ultimately that she has come of age. If only more people had followed this advice when considering Tom Robinson. Injustice is a theme that Lee portrays through Tom Robinson’s case and both Jem and Scout have trouble getting to grips with the fact that an innocent man is going to jail for a crime he clearly did not commit. The fact that good people can still suffer injustice is difficult to take on at such a tender age. However, the two understand the situation and although they are not happy with the result they are ‘coming of age’ and

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