Notes on the theme of morality in To Kill A Mockingbird.
- Atticus considered by most to be the “moral backbone” of Maycomb.
- He passes his morals onto Jem+Scout to fulfil his role as a good parent, saying “Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I’ve tried to live so I can look squarely back at him.”
- Novel focuses on development of the Finch children’s moral outlook on life.
- Scout particularly is often confused at the mixed messages she gets from those around her, despite a strong sense of what’s good and bad from a young age.
- They learn over the course of the book that morality isn’t black and white, and that in some instances rules must be bent for good. Even Atticus struggles to understand this at the end of the book when Heck Tate insists on claiming Bob Ewell fell on his knife to spare Boo Radley exposure to the limelight in Maycomb.
- The children face opposition to Atticus’s teaching in school, where they have to live with the other children whispering about them and calling them names, and even with the teachers, who are unsympathetic and often morally hypocritical.
- One teacher criticises Hitler’s treatment of the Jews, but fails to see the similarities between Hitler’s anti-Semitism and the racial prejudice rife in Maycomb.
- They also learn that not everybody has the same strong morals that they do, and that there’s a lot of evil even in sleepy little Maycomb county. e.g. the Ewell family.
- Through exposure to the court case concerning Tom Robinson, the children see the extreme racial prejudice in Maycomb, and Jem particularly struggles with his own cynicism and vulnerability after seeing his father lose the case.
- An important moral message that Atticus gives is that there is good and bad to everyone, and nothing is clear cut.
- Another important lesson is that you shouldn’t harm those who are defenceless or innocent. This is indicated in the extended metaphor of “killing a mockingbird”, a mockingbird being an innocent and harmless bird. Atticus warns Jem+Scout that “it’s a sin to killl a mockingbird.” Boo Radley and Tom Robinson can be identified as mockingbirds, Tom Robinson because he suffered the ultimate price for a crime he did not commit due to the inherently unequal society in Maycomb, and Boo Radley because he saves the children at the end of the novel, and although he killed Bob Ewell it was in defence of the children, so it would be a sin to subject him to the attention of the whole of the town.
- Ultimately, the most important morals are those of sympathy and understanding, as he encourages them not to jusge others until they’ve considered their perspective.
Exam on tuesday wooooooh.
