Literary Essay
Storytelling can play an important role in novels. The stories are able to; create positive or negative impressions, entertain the reader and impact the themes or environments. In, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” storytelling is used to reveal character traits about the teller and to affect the community. These stories can be anything from the Boo Radley stories affecting the street to Tom Robinson and Atticus showing their courage in the courthouse. These stories are used to either give or take from another person or to pass on false information. Therefore storytelling plays an important role in, “To Kill A Mockingbird.
In, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” we hear many stories about the mysterious Radley Place from Jem and Scout. The lot…show more content… During the novel, one of the main conflicts is the Tom Robinson case. Tom, a black man, had been charged with raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell. Atticus who had been appointed to defend Tom showed courage. In his final speech to the jury he says, “I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in effort to get rid of her own guilt,” (203). By Atticus stating this, he is favouring a black man’s opinion over a white’s which takes great courage to say since it is frowned upon in society. Atticus is willing to take a risk to save a black man even if it means being casted away by the community. Surprisingly, Tom shows courage too. When he is giving his side of the story in the courthouse, he says, “Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em,” (197). When Tom says this, he is saying something a few people would give the death penalty. The fact that he says he felt sorry for a white girl is even more courageous than Atticus favouring opinions. Tom even gets a response from Mr Gilmer who exclaims, “You felt sorry for her,”