Matthew Barrall

Period 5

4/28/2021

TKAM Theme Final Essay

Harper Lee made a novel called To Kill a Mockingbird. This novel was released in 1960,

And it was set back in the 1930s. During these times, the Great Depression was happening.

The book is told by a young girl named Scout. She had a father named Atticus, and he worked

as a lawyer. During those times, Scout was exposed to many great life trials such as racism and

sexism, but in those life trials, she learned valuable lessons from them. One lesson she learned

throughout the novel is Sometimes, not everything seems the way it is.

A way the book teaches this lesson is Scout’s dad, Atticus. Scout thought she knew

everything about her dad, but something she thought he would never do, Atticus did. Atticus got

a gun out, and shot a rampaging dog, and Scout was shocked by that. In the novel, Scout said

“I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man

who ever lived.” (92). This quote says that some things you might not believe some things your

parents did, when they actually did. This shows the lessons Scout learned about how

sometimes, some things don’t seem the way it is by learning something new from her dad that

she never thought he would do.

Scout also learns this lesson with Boo Radley. There had been rumors about Boo being

this creepy, mean person in Maycomb. The children made games about him, and didn’t always

go near his house. But one night, Jem and Scout got attacked by someone, and someone else

saved them. Scout soon figured out that Boo saved them, as brought up in the novel, where it

says ““I thought Atticus had come to help us and had got wore out—” “Who was it?” “Why there

he is, Mr. Tate, he can tell you his name.”” “His lips parted into a timid smile, and our neighbor’s

image blurred with my sudden tears. “Hey, Boo,” I said.” (247). This shows that Boo isn’t that
mean, and shows how nice he can be. This relates back to the lesson Scout learned by showing

that rumors aren't always true, and can sometimes be wrong.

Finally, the lesson shows up with Mrs. Dubose. She would always get angry at Jem and

say mean stuff to him. Jem just thought that Mrs. Dubose was just a really mean person, but

that wasn’t the case. He soon finds out that Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict from Atticus,

where he says ““Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict,” said Atticus. “She took it as a pain-killer

for years. The doctor put her on it. She’d have spent the rest of her life on it and died without so

much agony.”” (102). Jem feels sorry for what he thought of Mrs. Dubose. This shows the lesson

how everything isn’t the way it seems by showing Jem that Mrs. Dubose isn’t a mean person

because she just is.

The evidence shows how To Kill a Mockingbird can teach people that Sometimes, not

everything seems the way it is. Some of it was a fact about someone that nobody knew. And

some of it was about how people may think differently about someone based on something else.

These events show how one can think differently about something. And that is how the novel,

To Kill a Mockingbird, can teach you the lesson of Sometimes, not everything seems the way it

is.