Fear in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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Fear in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Fear is an important force in the novel because it is the cause of most people's action. The main theme in the book is a result of fear such as the Tom Robinson case and Boo Radley. Ignorance breeds fear which in turn breeds prejudice. Fear is infectious, and each character in the book is affected by other people's fear. Hence, the people in Southern town are always afraid. Lee is able to explore fear in the novel most effectively by seeing how individual characters are affected by it. In Particular, Mayella Ewell is influenced and manipulated a lot which is shown by the fact she accuses Tom. The underlying reason for the Tom Robinson case going to trial is that Mayella Ewell is afraid of being "hounded from [their] midst as being unfit to live with." Mayella is forced to put an innocent man in prison because she wants to put the " evidence of her crime away form her" and save herself from another punishment. She has reason to be afraid, as Atticus implies she was " savagely beaten" by Bob Ewell. Therefore not only does she fear being driven out of society but also fears physical abuse. Her fear is passed on to her by her father, Bob Ewell, who sees himself to be a "respectable white man." He signs the warrant because he fears that he might lose the respect of the community if they were to find out that his daughter had " kissed a black man." He also fears to lose his reputation and so he takes out his anger on his daughter by abusing her. This anger is a result of his prejudice. He was angry with his daughter for kissing a black man because he "hates and despises coloured-folks." ... ... middle of paper ... ...trong force in the book by every character being individually affected by it. Throughout the novel it is rarely, directly referred to and yet is such a powerful force behind so many of the actions. Lee explores the emotion in many forms and ultimately Scout shows that although she has discovered that people can be evil in unfathomable ways, she still upholds her faith in humankind and can face anything with courage. Unlike Dill, she finds that the real world does follow patterns, and once one knows them, the world of fantasy and books is the only place where real fear can exist. From the beginning of the novel, where scout has a fear of Boo, school and things she didn't understand Scout has grown to understand that fear is unnecessary. In this way all of Maycomb County fears something irrational, they fear, fear.

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