2.1.

1 Themes of to kill a mockingbird

To kill a mockingbird theme

Death of innocence

 Songbirds and their associated symbolism appear throughout the

novel.
 The titular mockingbird is a key motif of this theme, which first
appears when Atticus, having given his children air-rifles for
Christmas, allows their Uncle Jack to teach them to shoot. Atticus
warns them that, although they can "shoot all the bluejays they
want", they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a
mockingbird","They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for
us." (Lee, p.103)
 it is inevitable that Tom had faced or will face defeat, giving it elements
of a classical tragedy. Because the trial is not fair for the black people.
(Dave,1974)
 "'To kill a mockingbird' is to kill that which is innocent and
harmless—like Tom Robinson. (Bruell, 1964)
 Atticus feels that it is wrong to kill a mockingbird because all
they do is sing beautiful songs and never harm anyone. As well
as Tom that never rape Myella in the first place.
(Gordon,1976)
 Boo radley is another example among several innocents
destroyed carelessly or deliberately throughout the novel. Who
was misunderstood by other poeple. “when they finally saw him,
why he hadn't done any of those things ... Atticus, he was real nice," to
which he responds, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see
them.” (Lee, p.322-323)
 Scout relates the moral of a story Atticus has been reading to her,
and in allusions to Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Scout comes to
see Boo as a 'mockingbird' — that is, as someone with an inner
goodness that must be cherished. (metress,1999)

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 Theme for To Kill a Mocking
Bird

SOCIAL INEQUALITY Differences in social status are explored largely

through the overcomplicated social hierarchy of
Maycomb.
(http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/themes.htm
l

Finc
h
Fami
ly
Common
townspeople
White Thrash (Ewell's
family)
Black community
The social hierarchy in Maycomb according to http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/themes.html

-the Atticus’s family represent the relatively well-off

families in the Maycomd, which is respected for their
wealth and succession in society.

-the “white trash” are the lowest of the white

community, uneducated and poor.

-however, the black community are put lower than the

white trash despite the fact that some of them are more
educated than of the white thrash.( Calpurnia for
instance teaches Scout to read and write.) (Page 24,
chapter 2).( Lee, H.(1960) To Kill A Mocking Bird)

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-the theme is symbolically presented when Atticus was told to shoot the rabid dog.
(page 126,chapter 10). The shooting of the rabid dog represent Atticus fighting
against racism in the town of Maycomb.(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird#Southern_life_and_racial_injustic
e)

-Tom Robinson was found guilty although the evidence denies it. It was because he
was black.

-Atticus was called “nigger lover” as a mockery for helping the lowly black, Tom
Robinson in his case.(page 114, chapter 9)

- Aunt Alexandria advised Atticus to fire Calpurnia which is because she is black.

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2.2 readers respond

There are many themes in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee.

However, one of the most predominate is death of innocence and social inequality.

The theme of death of innocence is Songbirds and their associated symbolism

appeared throughout the novel. Songbirds refer to the peoples that do not have the

ability to fight against their right in the novel. For example, Tom Robinson was accused

of raping Myella Ewell and Boo Radley was state as a “bad person” by others.

Tom had faced or will face defeat, giving it elements of a classical tragedy. The trial of

Tom Robinson is not fair. As the jury and the judge had declared Tom guilty.

Although the evidences showed by Atticus were based on facts. Tom does not had the

right to choose because he is born in a black community that was looked down by the

whites.

Boo radley is another example among several innocents destroyed carelessly or

deliberately throughout the novel. Who was misunderstood by others. Due to his past

mistake of stabbing his father, people started to judge him ever since. He kept himself

away from other people and acted weird. But after Boo saved Jem and Scout during the

attack of Bob Ewell, other people’s point of view about him had changed. They finally

realized that Boo was actually a loving, nice, and brave person. Scout realized that the

inner kindness of Boo should be cherished although finally Boo disappear from the

town.

Another theme that can be found in the novel was social inequality. Based on the

maycomb’s social hierarchy, the black community social status was the lowest among

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all. Due to that, the white always had the right to control the black because of the social

status. Although some black peoples were educated, but their social status was lower

than the white trashes. This is regarding to the racism among the black community and

the Jim Crow’s Law saying that the black does not have the chances of winning their

rights due to their skin colour.

The theme of social inequality was symbolically presented when Atticus was told to

shoot the rabid dog. The shooting of the rabid dog represent Atticus fighting against

racism in the town of Maycomb.

During the trial, Tom Robinson was found guilty although the evidence denies it. It was

because he was black. This shows that the black community was discriminated by the

white. Hence, Atticus was called “nigger lover” as a mockery for helping the lowly black,

Tom Robinson in his case. This proved that the social status of the black community

was low as they do not deserve the help from a white lawyer.

Besides that, Aunt Alexandra advised Atticus to fire Calpurnia which is because she

was black women. This showed that Aunt Alexandra was in the higher social status

compare to Calpurnia which is lower than her. The white thought that they were more

superior compare to the black regarding to their skin colour.

To conclude, the themes that can be found in the novel were death of innocence and

social inequality. The themes symbolized that the mockingbird was innocent but it’s life

was fragile and the black community does not had the right to share the same social

status with the white.

(549 words)

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Reflection :

After conducting this course work , I had learnt a lot of things. The characters played

important roles in the novel and the themes were based on the textual evidence showed

in the novel.

During the time conducting the assignment, I had discussed with my partner Fringkey

and asked which character he would pick. He picked Boo Radley and I had picked

Atticus Finch. We had discussed and search for material and resources based on the

characters.

After that, we showed our graphic organizer together and tried drafting down our

personal reader responses. It took us long to finish our course work 1. But during the

time conducting the second course work, Fringkey and I managed to collaborate with

madam Zilla in the class. Hence, Madam Zilla had told us about our weakness of our

graphic organizers. So that, we search for more resources in order to improve our work.

Hence, we had wrote down our personal reader responses due to the theme that we

picked earlier.

Finally, I managed to finish both my course work in time and handed in to Madam Zilla

on the due date.

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References:

 (n.d.). Retrieved 30 August, 2010, from http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?

id=4193

 (n.d.). Retrieved 30 August, 2010, from

http://rantery.awardspace.com/articles/mockingbird.html

 (n.d.). Retrieved 30 August, 2010, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird#cite_note-76

 (n.d.). Retrieved 30 August, 2010, from

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/themes.html

 (n.d.). Retrieved 30 August, 2010, from http://www.homework-

online.com/tkamb/index.html

 (n.d.). Retrieved 30 August, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?To-Kill-a-

Mockingbird---A-Book-Review&id=78097

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