Identity - How to Kill a Mockingbird

Argumentative Essay

Identity deals with the misconception of people. Judgment though identity is a flaw of our modern society. People of our society no longer judge fairly with a first impression. When a person enters society, they don't obtain an identity by acting the way they do. Others give them an identity to go and live by. The literary themes of this book have to do with justice, identity, and goodness. But all must know that with goodness, comes evil. The goodness in this story involves the unfair trial of Tom Robinson, an innocent black man accused of raping a white girl, his lawyer, Atticus Finch, and the lawyer's daughter, Scout Finch. Throughout the story, the evil is classified as the strong prejudice that was present in their past society. The strong prejudice related to the unjust trial of Tom Robinson. The all white jury had no mercy for any innocence because of the simple basis, that he was a black man. The morbid evil of prejudice is not realized in the society of this time period.

Good comes from evil. One good coming from evil on the behalf of Tom being charged wrongly and put to death, was the thoughts of one girl who knew the injustice that was being placed in front of her and she tried to help prevent a dire end result. For example, when the lynch mob was formed outside the jail, Scout, Jem, and Dill, all stood with their father even when he angrily insisted they go home. Not wrongly done, Atticus was trying to protect his children from the possibly horrid fate that could've come. But, when Scout spotted a familiar face in the mob, the face of Mr. Cunningham, she spoke to him without any sign of fear throughout her voice. She was merely trying to show him that he was just following the crowd to fit in, a sign of a questioning identity, to a crowd that was just fighting against anti-prejudice. After a simple conversation with only Scout talking, he realized his false identity and felt sympathy and a sorrow for his wrongdoing and went home. The rest of the mob followed, for they started to realize their corrupted societies continuing wrongdoings were a result of them and their lynch mob. Good comes from evil.

The second good that came from the evil prejudice in this book was that because of the trouble the Bob Ewell accused Tom of raping his daughter, made others act better on behalf of other races because of these false accusations of prejudice injustice. The people who realized the prejudice was wrong felt a connection to Tom because they knew what his fate was and they could do nothing to stop it. But, the future wrongdoings would be stopped by the ones who knew what was right. Good comes from evil.

In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout had a judgment of identity for Calpurnia because, everyday, Scout sees the way Calpurnia acts and her personality. But, after seeing the way she acted and the things she said among the others of her race

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