Themes in To Kill a Mockingbird

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Themes in To Kill a Mockingbird
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To Kill a Mockingbird is about racism.

• To determine the theme, you have to explain what
  it teaches about racism.
• OK racism is bad. We knew that already.
• GO DEEPER.

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Getting To Depth WHAT ELSE?

• Where does racism appear?
• How does racism affect people?
• How does racism affect a community?
• How does racism against black people affect white
  people?
• Are there different types of racism?
• What is the human cost of racism?

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Consider

• Tom Robinson/ Tom Robinsons death
• What Calpurnia says about two languages.
• First Purchase Church
• Dolphus Raymond and his mixed kids
• Ms. Merriweathers comments at the tea party
• How Bob Ewell perceives the events
• Mayellas attraction to Tom
• How Miss Gates is hypocritical

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Come up with a thematic statement about the theme
about racism in To Kill a Mockingbird.
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Coming of Age/ Loss of Innocence

• Scout and Jem grow up in this novel. We see each
  of them mature through their behaviors, actions,
  and the things they say. They lose their
  innocence. What do we learn about growing up
  from this novel? What happens as we grow up and
  get older, as demonstrated in this novel?

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Courage/Integrity

• What are some events that are meant to teach us
  about courage or integrity?

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Stepping into someone elses skin

• Write a thematic statement about this topic.

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Innocence

• The mockingbird comes up several times in the
  novel. It does nothing to hurt anyone or
  anything, but they make music to enjoy. Its a
  sin to kill a mockingbird. It is a symbol of
  innocence. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are also
  innocent. What is the author trying to make us
  think about innocence from the events of this
  novel?

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The Gothic Motif

• Harper Lee includes many Gothic elements in To
  Kill a Mockingbird. Why? What does it do to the
  story? How does it affect it? What was her
  purpose in including these elements? Where do we
  see the ribbon of the gothic throughout this
  novel?

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Forebodings Of Evil
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Imprisonment, including barriers, walls, and veils
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Ghosts, vampires, witches and ghost houses
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Home as a dangerous prison
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Forbidding secrets
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The prison of stereotypes
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Insanity
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Taboos (such as interracial relationships)
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The influence of the past and degeneracy
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Violence, especially that which has to do with
the attempt to break boundaries
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Eccentricity
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The lure of terror