Differentiating Good From Bad, Term Paper Example

An Analysis of the Themes presented in the Novel To Kill a Mockingbird

Introduction

Children are considered to be innocent in nature; seeing matters in the most colorful manner and at the best picture of life itself. However, as they grow into maturity, such innocence is compromised. When they go out into the world, meet other people and encounter different situations as they grow older. These experiences begin to shape them, their attitude and their condition of understanding life itself. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author presents a distinct condition by which young children are given the chance in life to experience the realities between good and evil in a rather direct and considerably distinct approach of defining the twists and turns of time. In the story, the author puts his young characters in a situation that would challenge the way they understand goodness and how they accept the not-so-good realities of life.

Taking into account the value of tragedy and the lesson it teaches humans, Lee tries to create a picture that is rather horrific yet compelling in defining the difference between good and evil in a context that not only children would be able to relate to but the general audience would be able to contend with. Considerably, Lee wants to point out in this novel that evil is a common part of human living and running away from it is not an option; instead, realizing its factual value and understanding how to work around it is a rather practical approach in accepting its reality.

The Distinction of Good and Evil

Harper Lee’s novel specifically features a well-off family in Maycomb, Alabama. Apart from the other residences in the area, the family of Atticus Finch lives off well from his position as a prominent lawyer. The story is set in the time of Great Depression when majority of the people are experiencing economic issues especially in relation to sustaining themselves to specifically survive from the challenges of basic everyday living. Atticus’ children, Scout and Jem are considered to be innocent from the realities of life as they are being shielded by the good life that they have apart from what the society is suffering from.

The distinction of the characters and their role in bringing both Jem and Scout into reality and challenging their values and beliefs over the existence of goodness is somewhat extensive in determining different themes that specifically identify with the desire of the author to establish a thoughtful indication on what justice is and how good and bad is valued through the perspective of the one being tried.

The Value of Tragedy in Proving a Point

What constitutes a good story is that of its capacity to relate to the whole being of the people reading it. Notably, with the unique individuality of each reader, it is expected that they have different perspectives about the emergence of situations that occur in the story. They are also expected to take on different opinions on the characters that are used by the authors to embody the message that is being formulated in any particular narrative. In the case of the story “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee uses several tragic moments to establish the strength of his message that aims to challenge the way the readers understand justice and values its worth in relation to the way they live and the way they see matters accordingly.

In the story, Jem’s supposed understanding of justice and how it is supposed to protect the good ones in the society has completely been shaken upon the death of Tom Robinson, a falsely accused rapist due to his racial identity as a black man. His death marked Jem’s identification of social revolt against goodness. He realized how ‘bad’ the society is as they did not listen to reason and evidence as well as his father did. The illogical incarceration and killing of Tom Robinson made Jem realize that when it comes to social ridicule, no one is safe from anyone, and no one can be protected by the law. He saw the rotten system of the society and how the supposedly ‘bad’ individuals appear to be the good ones when they are really known in a close encounter.

Relatively, Scout learns more than just the indication of injustice in the society. Like her father, she learned how to work around it, to see more than what the eyes can visualize. Her experience with Boo, a supposedly hard-to-understand person who saves her life several times in the novel taught her how judgmental the society could be and how this could be countered by distinctively knowing the people from a close proximity. Boo, although he may not be good at mingling with others, is noted in the story as someone who has concealed himself from the society because of the current situation that is happening around them during the time. The desire to be secluded from the ridicule kept him confounded in concealment from the society. Nevertheless, his goodness has been proven to be sincere when he tried to save Scout several times in the story.

Taking into account the overall context of the novel, it could be observed how tragedy plays its way in relation to determining the real message of the story and the role of the characters in proving such point. According to Cowen (2), in both epic and comedy, the real value of motion entails to create a distinct representation on how the spirit moves along with the situation. In way, the response of a person towards the changes that are occurring around him is sure to create a distinct reaction on how he is to embrace maturity and how he is to take note of the different issues that relate to such needed adjustments. What constitutes a good story is its capacity to make sure that the change in scenarios would bring readers into a state of personal thinking as they try to understand how the whole plot relates to them.

The utilization of tragedy into the story authored by Lee made it possible for the readers to see through his eyes, and experience the emotions and challenges that the characters are subjected to In relation to this, Cowen adds, an impressive number of twentieth-century thinkers have attempted to isolate tragedy in one of its elements such as suffering, paradox and destruction of value or the confrontation with the irremediable (3).  This passage imposes that the indication of tragedy in most stories specifically challenge the way the readers think and feel towards the scenario they are reading through. While it creates a challenge for the characters of the story, it also brings in a sense of realization on the part of the readers. Cowen further mentions that tragedy, rather than being a model of life experience, seems absolute-like a diagram or recipe. It evokes something than reminds us of something (2). In a way, in the story created by Harper Lee, the readers did more than just imagine, they questioned how they might react to such social injustice if they were in the shows of either Jem or Scout. The situation the characters were subjected to challenges the readers to take side on whether they are to take the realization that Jem took into account or would they be more objective like that of Scout especially considering the good reason behind the emergence of evil among several individuals.

Conclusion

The battle between good and evil continues to be a common theme among reading materials and other narratives produced today. Usually following a tragic pattern of events, this theme could be observed to challenge the general human thinking that separates good from bad. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird, most of the evil situations are preempted by good motives. Tom’s death happened because of the desire to escape basically because he knew he did not commit the crime being pinned on him. Boo, a misunderstood character, seem to be grounded on good values; however, because of the current situation in the society, he need to chose to conceal himself. Seeing beyond what the eyes can see is very important when trying to value the worth of good versus evil. It could be understood that only through this approach would the reality behind why evil exists could be realized. This is perhaps the reason why fascination over tragedy continues to thrive at present as one of the most interesting themes writers use to prove their point on determining the difference between good and bad.

Works Cited

Cowan, L. The Tragic Art Form. Introduction: The Tragic Abyss.

Lee, H. (1960). To Kill a Mockingbird. United States: Lippincott and Company.