To+Kill+a+Mockingbird+Essay

“It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” – Atticus. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, the childhood of Harper Lee is seen through the perspective of a little Jean Louise Finch inMaycomb,Alabama. In this book, the main theme is to not judge others and to try and look at things from their perspective. Also, the theme of how, sometimes, kids can tell right from wrong.

A person in the story who is much judged is Tom Robinson. Tom is a black man who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, daughter of Bob Ewell, who is a drunk who lives on a farm in the forest. Tom had actually been the one assaulted. Mayella jumped on him after he did some free work for her. However, no one believes him. They don’t even believe that he did work for free. “You did all this chopping and work from the sheer goodness of your heart, boy?” “Tried to help her, I says.” “You’re a mighty good fellow it seems, did all this for not one penny.” As you can see the prosecutor does not believe Tom, a black man, would do work for free. However if the prosecutor had stepped into Tom’s shoes, he would have found this very believable.

Boo Radley is another prime example of prejudice. This is Jem’s description of Boo, “Boo was about six and a half feet, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any rats he could catch, that’s why his hands were blood stained.” In reality, his name is Arthur Radley. He is of average height and is normal except for his shyness. That is why the fact that he killed Bob Ewell was covered up. He couldn’t handle the limelight.

Another important theme is right versus wrong and how it seems only kids can tell right from wrong. This is proved by the conviction of Tom in the trial. Every man in that room knew that Tom was innocent but they convicted him regardless. The sole reason for his conviction was the fact that he was black, and Maycomb is a very prejudice place, being that it is located in the south. Proof of this racist prejudice is in this excerpt taken after the trial and conviction of Tom, “It seemed Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd.” This shows that the people of Maycomb were happy to convict an innocent man.