Novel Themes
Emphasis on Racism
Lee’s emphasis on racial overtones conveys a lot of information about the time period and plot of the story. Racism has a direct relevance to the book because it incites strong emotions in the reader and stimulates them to develop a strong opinion about a specific climactic event in the novel. The author also used racism to create a tense mood in the story, adding excitement to each event. One place where the reader develops strong emotions in response to racism is Mrs. Dubose’s remarks towards Atticus, saying “Your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” Lee implemented racism in this quote so the reader could develop a strong opinion against racism, and so that the reader can apply this knowledge towards important events such as the Tom Robinson trial. Another quote is that incites a strong opinion is “when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s word, the white always wins. They’re ugly, but these are the facts of life”. This quote was implemented into the book to give a racial context, and to allow the reader to better understand racism during the time period.
Prejudice and Judgmental
Throughout the book, the ideal of judging someone before you know them, on a biased point of view back in the 1950's. As shown when Atticus says, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." When Atticus has a case where he has to stand up for the black man because the evidence shows that he didn't rape Bob Ewell's daughter. Due to so many racist beliefs and biased opinions, everyone is against the black man being uncharged. Also when Jem and Scout make up things about Boo Radley but when Scout actually meets him, he's saved her life and she escorts him around the house.