To Kill A Mockingbird Theme Essay

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Anabelle Chalmers
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To Kill a Mockingbird is considered a great American novel, including timeless themes and relatable topics throughout the whole book. Taking place in a small Southern town, author Harper Lee creates a story of timeless themes, many still relatable more than half a century later. Harper Lee uses the symbol of a small town to demonstrate the theme of narrow-mindedness and uses racial injustice, gender expectations, and social ranking to illuminate the motif. Narrow-mindedness is just one of the many themes found in To Kill a Mockingbird, but can easily be found through a single sentence. In the setting of the deep South, Lee explains racial injustice clearly through the characters of Tom Robinson and Reverend Sykes. On …show more content…
Women were expected to act in a very delicate, ladylike manner constantly. Not only were there expectations from others, but many gave themselves expectations to be have a perfect figure and to present themselves as best as they could. On page 212, Scout swears she could have seen Aunt Alexandra wearing her corset under her night robes, even though she was going to bed. Within just a single sentence, Lee gives another example of how society affects a woman’s view of herself and that she would take any measure to become a perfect woman. Although Scout doesn’t quite explain it or go into the topic, it is another one of Lee’s hidden messages throughout the novel that adds to the theme of narrow-mindedness. Another example of the high gender expectations is on page 250, at the ladies’ tea where Scout, wanting to impress them, says she wants to become a lady when she’s older instead of a lawyer. Even though it’s the last thing she wants to do, she doesn’t want to embarrass herself even more. Within the many themes in To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee incorporates another theme of gender inequality or expectations. All the ladies simply laughed at the thought of Scout being a lawyer, because she’s a girl. Women were just given the right to vote, but still were expected to act a certain way. Despite being a minor theme in the book, it
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