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To Kill A Mockingbird Truth Essay

Decent Essays

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of morality.” Demonstrated every day in reality, and expressed in many works of art and literature, this maxim may best be shown in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird is the multifaceted and passionate story about and narrated by young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch as she grows up in 1930s Alabama, telling of the lessons she learns about prejudice, justice, and social rules. The narrative of her family, her neighbors, and society in general are seen through her eyes, and her own growth in response progresses throughout the book. The themes of To Kill a Mockingbird - of innocence, prejudice, morality, belief, and justice - each …show more content…

Even direct evidence can’t change what they think of Arthur. It is easy to see how smoothly and quickly these rumors can be adopted as fact; there is only a short step to this “knowledge” being passed on. When Scout first describes the situation regarding Arthur, she mentions that “Jem received most of his information from Stephanie Crawford, who said she knew the whole thing.” (11) This is one of many times in which Scout mentions Jem, her older brother, gathering this information. It is always framed this way, coming from an outside source, to subtly show the reader that it should not be accepted as fact. Yet, Scout rarely reiterates “Jem said that”; she accepts it as truth. The reason that Scout and Jem accept what they hear so quickly is that they are children; they have been taught to believe what they are told by adults and it is in their best interest to do so. Gullibility, which results from this, is a primary facet of innocence, and it is this innocence that allows the most absurd of lies to be carried on. Gossip and rumor - the ability to take a kernel of truth and grow it into any falsehood desired - is quite frequently seen throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Since it is incredibly rare that the rumors are true, this theme contributes largely to the theme of truth in general, and its recurrence in the Maycomb community shows how important Harper Lee deems it.
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