To Kill A Mockingbird Journal #7

Chapters: 1-24
Perspective: ME
Prompt: C

When I started to read TKAM I didn’t notice the subtlety of its theme. Originally I thought it was about 3 kids trying to contact their strange neighbor. I have looked at the book as a whole and my subsequent observations guide me to believe that this book is really centered on race. I feel it is irrelevant to bring up Boo Radley while talking about what the book is centered on. Boo Radley was a major focus in the beginning of the book but if you look at what impacted characters the most and what they said you too will clearly see that this book focuses on race and racism.

What I want you to do 1^st is think about the case of Tom Robinson. His case was especially assigned to Atticus. Once that happened Jem and Scout had to deal with prejudiced people talking about their father in ways that they usually didn’t like. If you look at everything as a whole you will notice a few key moments that really show that this book is focused on race. Here is a very strong piece of evidence I found. On page 117 Mrs. Dubose tells Jem and Scout that their father is “no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” This makes Jem act strange on his trip into town with Scout. On the way back Jem destroys Mrs. Dubose’s Camellias. This leads to Jem getting in trouble and having to read to Mrs. Dubose almost every day for a month. From all the books that I have read I see that the focus of the book usually drives the characters or affects their actions. For example, the theme in LOTF was survival, corruption, and evil. Well the boys on the island are trying to survive. Ralph tries to remain in control of the boys until rescue but Jack is corrupted by the thrill of the hunt and turns into an evil person full of hate rid. And this puts Ralph in quite a predicament.

When you read a book the theme is whatever ties in the most with every little event, basically whatever the story is dealing with. Over all I think that TKAM is focused on race. The court case has a white jury looking at a black defendant. Scout and Jem have to put up with what others say about what race their family protects. Race drives the story to move forward. If Tom Robinson was white then this book would be about crime, but because he his black people immediately have negative thoughts about him therefore changing the whole case and how hard it was for Atticus to defend the accused.