Harper Lee’s to Kill a Mockingbird

Essay

The idea of good and evil has lasted as long as the human species has lived. This idea is omnipresent: it exists in every culture. This common concept even exists in dreams and the imaginations of humans via books. The everlasting battle between good and evil is displayed in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird using the racism in the southern USA, the courage to confront the morals of a southern society and the characters’ display of innocent and villainous behaviour.

Harper Lee’s first approach to show good and evil is by the inhumane and racist living habits of white people in the Alabama, USA. The black church that Scout Finch attends one day is extremely poor; not being able to paint the building nor able to buy hymnbooks. Although the black community is really poor, the ironic part is the black church brings the people in it closer to each other than the people in the white church Scout normally attends. During the collection, the goal was not reached after the first round, but the generous community donated money until the goal was reached. Since the black community of Maycomb is considered as trash, it is evil to defend these black people. In the book, the “correct” action to take in a situation when a Negro is on trial is to declare them as guilty. In Tom Robinson’s trial, Tom’s innocent, peaceful and polite spirit is annihilated by the evil and gruesome acts of racism the jury shows. Again, another display of racism is the menacing mob that tries to attack Tom Robinson. The mob is a good example of how good can triumph over evil. Scout’s politeness makes Mr.Cunningham realize what he is doing is wrong. Her kindness shows that “a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they’re still human.”(157) Good and evil will live on through many human concepts, racism being one of them.

Courage is an essential element for humans to succeed in life, especially in Maycomb. Mrs.Dubose represents evil; she is extremely racist and has a very pessimistic view point. However, she has courage to overcome her morphine addiction, one of the main causes of her evil ways. Equally important, Atticus shoots the rabid dog that is striking fear into the citizens of Maycomb. Killing the animal shows Atticus is determined to protect Maycomb’s citizens from dangerous threats, such as the dog. In addition to these acts of courage, Mr.Cunningham votes Tom Robinson innocent. Cunningham shows courage to see beyond his uneducated, racist self and see Maycomb’s true side which consists of battles of black and white. These characters show countless acts of courage, even though they know “they’re licked before [they] begin, [they] begin anyway and [they] see