Racism
Racism and the ideas of race pervade To Kill a Mockingbird. During the Depression, and throughout human history, Black people have been subjected to segregation and systematic racism designed to maintain their subordination to whites. In the film, we see the separation of races in the courtroom, and more broadly in society, with Maycomb split into distinct black and white areas. Romantic entanglements between whites and Blacks are unspeakable, which underlines why Mayella’s guilt over attempting to seduce Tom led to her falsely accusing him of rape and putting his life at stake. As Atticus notes, Tom Robinson’s case should have never even been brought to trial; race is the deciding factor in both his conviction and the jury’s decision. Atticus combats racism, and Jem, Scout, Miss Maudie, and Sheriff Tate all seem to uphold anti-racist ideologies. However, this position is shared by few, and most of Maycomb’s residents are shrouded with racism and hateful bigotry. Unfortunately, by the end of the film, no significant progress has been made in changing the town’s conceptions of race, though Atticus’s powerful defense summation likely did challenge several people’s ingrained prejudices, as evidenced by the jury’s hours of deliberation.
Empathy
Throughout the film, Atticus encourages his children to step outside of their own sheltered, egocentric worlds and into other people’s shoes. These moral lessons are particularly effective for Scout, who begins the film with an inability to empathize with point of views that challenge her own or feel foreign to her.
However, after listening to Atticus’s pearls of wisdom (“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it”), Scout gradually begins to treat others with sympathy, a process that culminates in the final scene of the film. Scout recognizes Arthur/“Boo” as a human being instead of a monster, and when she escorts him home and surveys the neighborhood from his perspective of the porch, she has a newfound respect for Boo’s point of view and understands that his experiences are just as valuable as hers. In other words, she has finally realized the importance of treating people with empathy: it not only enables more people to treat each other with diplomacy and compassion, but it also prompts a more mature understanding of the world altogether.
Good and Evil
One of To Kill a Mockingbird’s most crucial themes is the exploration of human beings’ morality. At the beginning of the film, Scout and Jem believe in the fundamental goodness in people, as they have Atticus as a role model and have never been exposed to evil. However, once they confront the ignorance and prejudice which threaten the forces of good—like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, whose innocence become destroyed by the cold and hateful men surrounding them—they have to incorporate their experiences of evil into their life praxis and point of view of the world. Regarding the tension between opposing forces of morality, Mulligan implies how goodness can prevail against evil in the final conflict of the film when the true goodness of Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout from the true evilness of Mr. Ewell.
Atticus exemplifies the moral voice of the film—he has encountered evil time and time again, but has not lost his faith in humanity. He realizes that most people have both admirable and detestable qualities; no one person is unambiguously evil or good. Thus, we must attempt to understand a person’s life from their individual perspective, which will encourage us to live with empathy without becoming overly cynical about mankind’s immoral tendencies.
Gender
While the expectation of traditional gender roles is one of the more understated themes of To Kill a Mockingbird, they inform many of the characters’ behaviors and personalities. In the Great Depression era of America, normative notions of femininity and masculinity were rigidly imposed on women and men: women were expected to be polite and compliant, whereas men were expected to be strong, dominant, and aggressive. As such, the men and women of To Kill a Mockingbird adhere to their socially dictated roles, with the exception of Scout, who embodies the flexibility of gender roles. As a proud tomboy, Scout gets into brawls with boys, prefers overalls to dresses, and spends most of her summertime going on adventures with Jem and Dill. Scout adopts more masculine activities, but outside forces pressure her to conform to the overarching expectations of feminine behaviors, which is noticeably evident when she is required to wear a dress on the first day of school.
When Scout does adhere to more conventional gender roles, though, she is ridiculed by Jem for acting like a girl. Regardless of her behavior, Scout is often reductively viewed in relation to her gender. By showing the contradictory functions of gender roles, Mulligan provides an astute social commentary of how conventional notions of femininity are unfairly thrust upon young girls.
The Law
As a firm believer in the integrity of the American justice system, Atticus passionately believes that all men are equal in the court, and social inequalities and prejudices should be cast aside by the jury. Likewise, he argues that progress toward social equality can occur in the courtroom, which is evoked in his closing defense summation to the jury. However, the ideal of an unbiased jury who rationally decides on guilt or innocence based on evidence alone is not the reality for the court system in 1930s Maycomb, which consists of white men who know their personal verdict even before the trial begins. In To Kill a Mockingbird, justice and a fair trial is a privilege reserved only for white people.
Atticus’s somewhat idealistic beliefs in law and the American justice system are counteracted with his understanding that the law can and must be bent in certain scenarios. Because Arthur/“Boo” committed a crime at the end of the film, the law would require him to be subject to public prosecution. However, Atticus, Tate, and Scout understand that the sheer wish to protect Scout and Jem motivated Arthur's actions, and the public limelight would destroy the reclusive Arthur. As such, Atticus is aware of the necessity of bending the law to protect Boo. Ultimately, the depiction of the law in the film is complex; we see how the court system can inherently act in the best interests of an oppressor (as happens in the trial of Tom Robinson), but we also see how honorable interpreters of the law (Atticus) offer some hope that progress may be made through the court system.
Class and Social Hierarchies
Class introduces itself as one of To Kill a Mockingbird’s major themes in the very first scene of the film. Scout inquires about her family and the Cunninghams' relative socioeconomic statuses to Atticus. Atticus then briefly explains the social hierarchy of Maycomb: their family is poor, but relatively well off compared to farming families like the Cunninghams (and the Ewells), who are much poorer than most of the townspeople. The black communities are even worse off than the Cunninghams and the Ewells, which partially explains why a disregarded, low-class white person like Bob Ewell can get away with slandering Tom Robinson. On the first day of school, Walter Cunningham Jr. refuses to accept a loan of a quarter to buy lunch, and Scout knows that this is because of the Cunningham’s impoverished financial situation. In other words, Scout understands how social inequalities can permanently dictate a person’s behavior. Mulligan illuminates how these arbitrary social divisions generate a prejudice in social interactions and a thoroughly unpleasant disconnect between different members Maycomb society.
Loss of Innocence
Jem and Scout both begin the film as carefree children who spend their summers playing games, going on rebellious adventures, and fantasizing about Boo. They both naively believe in the essential goodness of people and are convinced that everyone exhibits the same moral values as Atticus. However, the occasion of Tom Robinson’s trial sets in motion the transition from childhood to adulthood in both children, especially Jem, the older of the two children. Jem is utterly discouraged by his discovery of the racism of many townspeople and particularly Ewell. His faith in humanity thereby becomes contested and damaged. He struggles to reconcile the realities of social inequity and systematic racism with a belief in the goodness of the world, though he doesn’t seem completely hopeless, jaded, or nihilistic, as proven in the jail scene where he maturely stands by his father’s side to combat the bigotry of the lynch mob. Scout, meanwhile, also experiences a loss of innocence, but her transition is less dramatic; she appears less disillusioned and still believes in the basic goodness of human nature even after the trial and Ewell’s attack on her and Jem.
