preview

##judice And Misjudgement In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

Better Essays

Rishita Sontenam English B1
Theme analysis essay December 10, 2017
“Through the Window”
” Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird " (Lee 78) . One of Harper Lee's strongest themes throughout To Kill a Mockingbird is that the characters are being judged by their appearances rather than who they really are. This misjudgement is shown through damages not only society's eyes, but also their thoughts and actions. In To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee develops the theme that prejudice and misjudgement can be compared to a foggy window where society fails to see past the fog and therefore, also fails to see past the character's appearances. Throughout the novel, Maycomb's community knows to believe that one's appearance plays a much larger role in a person's judgement rather than their reality. This false accusation creates a barrier between the truth and peoples assumptions. As a result, not only does Maycomb fail to understand why others like Mr. Raymond and Boo Radley live the way they do but in the process, also decrease any chance to relate to characters such as Tom Robinson. When Maycomb's society buried their memories of Boo Radley by sending an innocent man to his death sentence and forced another to live in a world of lies where they grew to judge men by their appearance rather than what’s on the inside.
The first instance of theme of appearance versus reality is a huge issue throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. In each chapter, prejudice occurs in a constant cycle whether it is aimed at an innocent black man. The book shows every aspect of how people can look through the foggy window and see things completely different than what they truly appear to be. One place where the theme of judging others is evident is when Raymond states that it is easier for “...people to handle differences when they have a reason to explain it”; therefore, he pretends to be an alcoholic (Lee 256). When Boo Radley, a man the entire world has feared for 30 years, brings Scout to tears when she realizes that this same man had saved her life. If every person goes one-step further to wipe this window clean, people like Boo Radley, Raymond, and Tom Robinson would not have to

Get Access