How would you feel if you were a child living in the early 1900’s when racism and segregation were such a large scale problem. In the masterpiece novel, To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, she tells the story of a girl named Scout who’s growing up during a time when not everyone is treated with respect and equality. For a young girl, Scout understands more about things in life because of her father, Atticus, a very wise lawyer who doesn’t believe in racism. Even though she knows more than other kids there are still many things she is yet to learn that cause her to ask questions without any thought about what she’s saying. She’s joined by her older brother Jem who makes sure to keep her under check to stop her from doing anything too …show more content…
This is the most impactful theme because of the time that the book takes place in, slavery has ended but racism and segregation still remained. Scout is growing up in a place and time where no matter where is going she will run into people that treat colored people differently. She must realize that even though her father doesn’t believe in racism most people around her do. Her father is trying to teach her that she should not follow these ways and that anyone who does is no more than trash. Tom Robinson is a black man who’s running on court for a case of rape and isn’t being treated equally in the courtroom. No matter what color of skin or nationality someone is, that shouldn’t matter when in a courtroom. Everyone should be treated equally and rightfully regardless of who they are. But when the whole jury is full of racist white people that despise the colored no one can do anything about it. The jury is supposed to have an open mind and think of everyone as an equal. But in this time there was nothing of the sort, if someone wasn’t white, they weren’t treated right. Even though there is little to no chance that Atticus will win the case of rape with Tom Robinson, Atticus still wants to try because if he doesn’t he won’t be able to face his children in the same way as he does now. Racism existed even 100 years before this story took place and it still does to this day. This is most …show more content…
Atticus is wise and moral, rather than fight with his hands, he instead uses his mind and knowledge to overpower any sort of physical contact. Instead of fighting with fists, Atticus tries to teach Scout to use her words, which may not make sense to a young girl like her. As Scout grows up, she learns to understand that resorting to fighting with her body isn’t always the answer and the problem will much likely be solved faster and with much less hassle. Atticus knows that they most likely will not win the case involving Tom Robinson and the Ewells but he will try as hard as he can to defend Tom’s innocence. Real courage means that Atticus can stand up to a whole courtroom comprising of mostly racist white men in the jury and everything put against him for defending a black man. Although there is seldom a chance of Atticus winning the case he goes through with it fully without any regrets. There are many elements that would discourage Atticus about taking the case of Tom Robinson, but he has too much dignity to not try his best whether he be defending a white man or a black man. He sees every person as an equal and treats everyone with the utmost respect he can provide to them. While there are many other themes in To Kill a Mockingbird the 3 mentioned in this essay are the ones that have more of an importance in the book. Scout learns stuff as she grows up in a town where everyone is treated