To Kill A Mockingbird: Extending the Theme

Have you ever had a novel teach you something that you can use everyday as a help to you? Well I have. To Kill a Mockingbird taught me some life lessons that I never thought a book could teach. Not only did I learn about racism in the South, but I also learned lessons that can help me in my everyday life. Courage is a great example because Scout learned to never give up even in the toughest situations. If Atticus would have said no to defending Tom Robinson, Tom wouldn't have had the chance to win and like Atticus said, "...if I didn't I wouldn't be able to hold my head up in this town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you and Jem not to do something again."

To have courage is a great life lesson or theme because if I was to walk onto the soccer field against a hard team, I would need courage to try my hardest and play as hard as I possibly could without just handing over the win. Like my coach always says, "Leave it on the field." For Atticus he was trying as hard as he could to win the fight to prove Tom Robinson not guilty and Atticus "Left it all in the courtroom." I can't imagine how hard it would have been to stay focused on winning when you have the whole town against you.

Another lesson I learned in To Kill a Mockingbird is about judging people you don't know. Boo Radley was an important character who was feared up until the end because people didn't know who he really was. "A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This quotation applies to To Kill a Mockingbird because when Scout finds out that Boo Radley had saved her and Jem, she realized that Boo was not the scary person that she had thought but a realy caring person.