Friday, April 30, 2010
Theme
Your literature book defines theme as "the insight about human life that is revealed in literary work." Themes are usually not directly stated in the work but must be inferred by the reader after thoughtful reflection. To Kill a Mockingbird , however, directly states a courage theme and a compassion theme. Can you find these direct statements of theme? Additionally, can you come up with your own education theme? I.e., what message about education does the book convey?
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4 comments:
On the final page of the book, Atticus retorts to Scouts statement with "Most people are Scout, when you finally see them." He is trying to get the point across that almost everyone is nice and kind in their hearts. People are distracted from doing right though, especially when they follow what seems to be popular with everyone around them. Atticus believes that all people are born good and are capable of being great.
The theme of this book is to not judge the color or appearance of a man but to get to know them and look at things from in their footsteps and then try and understand how they are. That line, "in their footsteps" is repeated over and over agin throughout the story and is a huge part of it. For example, the chidren believe that Boo Radley is a big,ugly,scary murderer that hates everyone and will kill you if you go onto his property. It turns out that Boo Radley is the one that saves the children when they are attacked by Bob Ewell and Scout learns that he is a nice guy after all.
One theme of the book is education. The main point of this theme in the book is Scouts moral education. How she progressivley Grows up throughout the book. Atticus teaches Scout thngs she needs to know but the education she receives at school is the counterpoint to atticus's education.
I agree with Tanner, the theme of education is found in two parts. The first part being on page 29 when Scout narrates, "I told Atticus I didn't feel very well and didn't think I'd go to school anymore if it was all right with him," and Atticus latter responds, " In your case, the law remanins rigid. So you must go to school tomorrow." This shows the value that Atticus places on education. The second is, as Tanner said, the moral growth of Scout throughout the entire novel. Examples of this growth can be found in the narration of the latter chapters.
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