Themes

This book is full of important themes that connect to all people. It is not just a story of Maycomb wrestling with its own racism or a little girl learning to see people in a new way. When we dig into the text, there are countless themes and lessons that we can learn. Some will stand out more than others for each person, but all deserve our time. Take some time with these quotes and questions and find ways to connect these themes to the characters and plot.

How would the character you are playing answer these questions?

If their answers would be different than your own, think about what factors may have led to you in this time and place answering differently than this character you are portraying.

Gender

“Jen told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with” (Lee 54)

“I know now what he was trying to do, but Atticus was only a man. It takes a woman to do that kind of work” (Lee 179)

“If Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I” (Lee 318)

Do little girls today hear similar things to what Scout heard from her Jem?

What affect do the things we say to children have on them as adults?

Courage

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. Its when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” -Atticus (Lee 149)

What are some examples of people who have courage like Mrs. Dubose in your life and/or your character’s life?

Who gets to determine the difference between cowardice and bravery? Do they always look different outwardly?

Childhood

“Why had he entrusted us with his deepest secret?... Because you’re children and you can understand it… things haven’t caught up with that one’s instinct yet. Maybe things’ll strike him as being- not quite right, say, but he won’t cry, not when he gets a few years on him… Cry about the simple hell people give other people- without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks. Without even stopping to think that they’re people, too” (Lee 268-269)

What makes this moment of Atticus’ reflection on his children so powerful?

Is there a time when we stop to care about the tragedies of the world?

Is it even possible to care and weep about all the injustice in this world? If not, than how can we learn from the innocent who do?

Addiction

“Did she die free?” asked Jem.
“As the mountain air,” said Atticus. “She was conscious to the last, almost. Conscious,” he smiled, “and cantankerous.” CH 11

What sorts of addictions can take a hold of your life?

When does a good thing cross the line into something that holds you down?

Do we celebrate those who have beaten an addiction? If not, is it something important to do? And if so, how would we do that?

Religion

“We’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we’ve got men like Atticus to go for us” (Lee 288)

What is the current reputation of the Christian church? How is it different from or similar to the church of Maycomb in the 1930s?

What individual responsibility do you take on to “go”?

Justice

"There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life. […] The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box." (Lee 295)

To what extent are Atticus’ views about the court system idealistic?

How does true justice compare to the justice of man?

When justice fails, how does the community respond? And does it remember?

Racial Injustice

 "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash." (Lee 295)

“I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.” (Lee 304)

When faced with countless examples of racial injustice, can we still find hope?

How do we move from hope to action?

Who must do this work, and for how long?