Theme Of Evil In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is as follows: When children mature and experience the evils of the world, they tend to lose their innocence in exchange for the ability to empathize completely with others, for empathy requires that which innocence lacks; a true understanding of evil.
This theme was developed by the character of Jem throughout the book. For example, when Boo Radley gives gifts to Jem and Scout through a tree with a hole in it, Nathan Radley fills up the hole with cement. When Jem asks Nathan why he filled the hole, he tells Jem the “Tree’s dying. You plug ‘em with cement when they’re sick. You ought to know that, Jem” (Lee 70). Jem believes Nathan because he is innocent enough to trust Nathan just because he is an adult and he said that it was true. He later learns, through Atticus, that the tree is actually healthy. Nathan plugged the hole to cut off Boo from giving gifts to the children. On my visual, I represented this with the juxtaposition of an apparently healthy tree with a gravestone in front of …show more content…
While this mob was dangerous and ready to kill, Jem remained fearless. When Atticus told him to go home, “Jem shook his head. ‘I’ll send you home’ a burly man said, and grabbed Jem roughly by the collar. He yanked Jem nearly off his feet” (173). This develops the theme because it shows how innocent Jem is, as he doesn’t understand the evil of the world. This was a very dangerous situation, but Jem wasn’t scared because he was too innocent to see the true danger of his situation. On my visual, I represented this with the symbol of a mockingbird with several dangerous weapons pointed directly at it. This symbol represents how Jem is in an extremely dangerous situation, but is too innocent to realize this danger as he expects everyone to be good. The mockingbird represents Jem and his innocence, while the weapons represent the danger of his
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