To Kill A Mockingbird English Literature Essay

How does Harper Lee use minor characters in To Kill a Mockingbird to explore the main themes of the novel? Select two or three characters from the text to demonstrate your ideas, you may select from: Mrs. Dubose, Mayella Ewell, Heck Tate, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, Tim Johnson, Miss Caroline, or Lula.

The bestselling novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a superb, eye-opening account about prejudice and injustice in the Great Depression era. The story is set in the 1930’s, in a fictional town in Alabama named Maycomb, a small community where everyone knows each other. Themes of racism, bravery and courage, and human integrity are quite significant in the overall story. The author uses many minor characters to explore these main themes. Examples of such characters include Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, Dolphus Raymond and Tim Johnson. Although not particularly significant to the novel itself, these characters are important because they are used to dive deep into the main themes of the story.

Mrs. Henry Lafayette is one of the (if not only) characters in To Kill a Mockingbird who represents both racism and bravery in the Maycomb community. This elderly woman, who appeared in only one chapter of the novel, was another Maycombian who freely expressed her strong hatred of African-Americans. She continuously yelled abuse at Jem and Scout about Atticus being as worthless as the black people he works for. ‘Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!’ (pg. 113) This is quite ironic, seeing as she was completely dependent on Jessie, her caregiver, who is black. Her insulting comments drove Jem to destroy her camellias. To compensate for ruining her garden, he was required to read to Mrs. Dubose every afternoon for a month. It soon became apparent to Jem and Scout that Mrs. Dubose had Jem read to her for a distraction; she was a morphine addict and her last wish was to conquer that addiction so that she could ‘leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody.’ (pg. 123) Atticus tells Jem that courage is not ‘a man with a gun in his hand’, but it is ‘when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.’ (pg. 124) Atticus had wanted Jem to see that real courage is when you carry on with what you are doing even though you know you are fighting a losing battle. Mrs. Dubose pulled through with her last wish of conquering her morphine addiction, even though the withdrawal would extremely difficult for her. This short appearance of Mrs. Dubose was definitely enough to show that she was one of the most courageous characters in the novel. However, she was not the only one who showed a great deal of bravery in the story.

Dolphus Raymond can be seen as one of the novel’s ‘mockingbirds’, seeing as he is misunderstood by the rest of the Maycomb community. In the novel, he showed courage by not caring about what others think and marrying the one he loved – someone who just happened to be black. He even had mixed children with her and is also understood to be the town drunk, and as a result, is looked down upon by the white community. They were disgusted that he preferred the company of Negroes rather than white people. He did not deserve this type of treatment because he was a man of good nature – he is a character that also demonstrates the theme of human integrity. He simply pretended to be drunk all the time to give the town a reason as to why he had disgraced himself like he did, thus putting the people of Maycomb at ease. ‘…if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whisky – that’s why he won’t change his ways.’ (pg. 221) He tells Scout that ‘it ain’t honest but it’s mighty helpful to folks.’ (pg. 221) By deliberately making himself out to be a chronic alcoholic, he is giving the town a legitimate reason as to why he has done something so shameful and unheard of in Maycomb. He brought relief to the town; he made life easier for them and himself… and yet, he was seen as an evil and disgraceful man, even by Scout. However, he does not even care what people think of his ways. To be a white man happily married to a black woman and having mixed children with her and not even caring what other people thought – to do what he wanted when everyone else disapproved was a very brave thing to do, especially back in those times where racism and prejudice was very much alive and quite accepted by everyone. In fact, the racism and prejudice in Maycomb can be represented solely through one character: Tim Johnson.

Tim Johnson is not as represented in the story as a character, but more of a symbol. He was the dog who wandered the neighbourhood of Maycomb and was considered its pet, until he was infected with rabies and had to be shot by Atticus. The author uses this character to explore the idea of prejudice in regards to the town of Maycomb, and also to link the theme of courage with another character: Atticus Finch. Firstly, Tim Johnson can be seen as the bigoted people of Maycomb. This is because when they come together, they act like rabid dog; they are uncontrollable, irrational and act before they think. He also symbolises Maycomb’s prejudice in the sense that it infects the town, like rabies. The appearance of Tim Johnson allows Atticus to demonstrate his courage. Atticus is seen as a hero, seeing as he shoots and kills Tim with only one shot, and is the only person in town who is capable of doing so – just like he is the only one in Maycomb trying to ‘kill’ the racist attitudes in the community and stop its disease from spreading. It also symbolises the town’s dependence on him to protect them from the rabid dog – or rather, the prejudice of the town. However, for Atticus, courage has nothing to with a man with a weapon. The fact that Atticus shot ‘a little to the right’ (pg. 107) revealed that he was not going to win the fight against racism.

To conclude, the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is unquestionably a well-written story with brilliant characterisation, especially in regards to the minor characters. Mrs. Dubose, Dolphus Raymond and Tim Johnson are excellent examples of the minor characters that help readers explore the main themes of the novel: racism and prejudice, bravery and courage, and human integrity. Indeed, these characters can be considered the best to embody the most important matters of the novel. It is clear through the analysis of the above paragraphs that these minor characters are some of the most complex in the story.