To Kill A Mockingbird Evil Vs Evil Analysis

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Every man or woman is capable of harbouring innate evil. From the first mention of Adam and eve in the bible, man has continuously committed evil and co-existed with it. Regardless of whether it has always been there or man created it, evil has remained embedded within our society. Even in many classics in literature, the depiction of evil as the driving force and the heart of the story are common; this includes Harper Lee’s bestselling novel and social commentary “to kill a mockingbird”. Harper Lee creates and develops the book to comment on the negative, but also the positive aspects of society. One of this includes the development of the reader's understanding of man’s capabilities to do good but also evil. Through the characters’ actions…show more content…
Even though man deems their selves as good people, Man follows evil, even though we know it can overpower our moral judgement. In the novel, Harper Lee depicts her characters to have flaws that depict their vulnerability concerning evil and our innate skill. Regardless whether the character is oblivious to evil or is fully aware of it, in some ways her characters are always overpowered by evils from the society. For example, Walter Cunningham Sr.’s involvement during Tom Robinson’s, attempt lynching. “The Cunningham’s never took anything they can’t pay back—no church baskets and no scrip stamps. They never took anything off anybody “. The Cunninghams’ which are shown to be completely selfless and good inside, even going as far as giving anything they have in return for a favour is shown to be capable of inflicting harm towards another human being. This portrayal of inert evil awakened by societal aspect, in this case racial prejudice shows that humans have an evil quality within them. They are capable of using evil towards a person yet show gentleness and goodness in their everyday dealings. This can also apply to scout’s judgemental statement about people she hardly ever knew. “I saw her sink down into her chair and bury her head in her arms. Had her conduct been more friendly toward me, I would have felt sorry for her.” Scout’s remark about Ms. Caroline can expand our…show more content…
Everyday humans succumb to temptations brought upon by evils in the world but everyone can resist this by staying true to their rightful nature and staying on a good path. Harper lee conveys the idea that even though we are all evil inside we still have goodness and that goodness can triumph over evil. Harper lee uses mockingbirds to symbolise the goodness of a person. It also portrays people that are good and innocent who are destroyed or exposed to evil. Boo Radley, for instance, is like a mockingbird—just as mockingbirds do not harm people, but only “sing their hearts out for us,” Boo does not harm anyone yet he was corrupted by the evil s in the world at an early age causing him to be a reclusive introvert. However even with his developed understanding of the evil in his town he still found goodness within him coming in the form of gifts to the children. He gave them his treasured objects and even with the closing of the knothole by Nathan Radley did not stop him from believing in goodness and helping others. Arthur Radley’s response to evil with goodness convey to the reader’s that even though things are bad we can all go through it by being good and not falling to evil. By using the mockingbird, Arthur ‘boo’ Radley Harper lee portrays the goodness deeply embedded inside us. She is conveying that everyone even with the evils in society can be
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