What is truth in to kill a mockingbird? How is truth valued? Discuss.

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The concept of memory The trial of Tom Robinson

What is Truth By Kevin Shaji 9F

What is truth in to kill a mockingbird and how is it valued? Before we answer this question we must first define what truth really is. Truth is most often used to mean in accord with fact or reality and although the same can be said for the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, truth in the novel can said to be its key problem as its value is constantly diminished due to factors such as racial discrimination, prejudice and rumours repeatedly outweighing the truth thus leaving it diminished.

In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, truth is its key problem due to its value being continually weakened due to factors such as racial discrimination. An instance of this is in the trial of Tom Robinson, a Negro, who is accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell and though his lawyer Atticus Finch does his best to save the defendant’s life, all these attempts are in vain as Tom Robinson is found guilty for the sole reason he is black even with everyone knowing it was all framed. After this trial the author has used the quote “There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life.” The author has used a metaphor to express that the value of truth has become so small that racial discrimination has now became a part of everyday life and that there is no way to escape it as society deems it okay as it is now a ‘fact’. It has become evident that truth is a key problem due to its value being continually weakened due to factors such as racial discrimination.

Another factor that shows the value of truth waning, which leads to it being an important problem in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee is prejudice. Again after the trail of the innocent Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, in which he is found guilty only due to the reason of his skin colour the author uses the quote “They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it – seems that only children weep?” The author has used repetition to show that everyone in the novel has grown accustomed to the prejudice in the town as it is accepted since even after Atticus proved Tom to be innocent, the jury found him guilty which goes to show how they all value truth. Without a doubt, another factor that shows the value of truth waning, which leads to it being an important problem in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee is prejudice.

It has become apparent in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee that truth is its crucial problem due to its value incessantly fading because of factors such as rumours. When it comes to Boo Radley, rumour and innuendo outweigh the truth, in part because so little is known about Boo and since much gossip has been spread about Boo everything is eventually taken in to be true. In the beginning of the novel Jem describes Boo to be “about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” The author has used hyperbole in the quote to exaggerate how far-fetched the rumours are about him which the people of the town seem to believe over the truth as to show how they truly value it.

In conclusion, truth in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee is the fundamental problem of it as its value is often shrinking due to a variety of factors that include racial discrimination, prejudice and rumours. We know this to be true as all the problems in the novel revolve under the problem of truth as the people of the town do not seem to value the notion and this becomes evident throughout the book especially in the trail of Tom Robinson when is found guilty and of course the rumours surrounding Boo Radley. From both cases we can see that the truth is distorted and falsified by the people of Maycomb showing us how little they value truth. As stated above, in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ truth is a central problem due to its value constantly being diminished.