Themes of to Kill a Mocking Bird

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The Book, “To Kill A Mocking Bird” By Harper Lee, contains many themes that are still relevant to life today. There is the coexistence of both good and evil and the ways it still exists, the importance of moral education and how it can influence society, and finally the existence of the social inequality. All of these themes exist in the world today still. The coexistence of good and evil is just one theme in the novel and is the most important theme. The coexistence of good and evil are portrayed as having both good qualities and bad qualities. This is explored in the book with characters such as Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley who is perceived as bad, right until the very end of the book when Scout finally sees ‘Boo’ as a real person. “when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things... Atticus, he was real nice…’ (Lee, 1960, pg. 307) This quote is actually Scout implying her views on Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley, growing from her innocence and realising that he is a good person. Bob Ewell, a character who had committed multiple crimes including beating his daughter, convicting a man for a crime he did not do and his attempt to harm Jem and Scout. His character is showing that people of pure evil do exist. Evil can be one who commits terrible crimes. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Kony, Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong Ill are all people of evil, some still living amongst us today. (Elias, 2009) Good and evil can all live within us, each person with both traits in themselves. Good and evil will always exist beside each other, in the past, present and future. The importance of moral education is another theme that is still crucial today. Moral education is the guidance and teaching of good behaviour and values, providing politeness and lawfulness being taught to children. (Devine, 2006) In the book, it is shown how Atticus teaches Scout, and how Miss Caroline teaches Scout.
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