To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Basic book report about the Theme of "To Kill A Mockingbird" The Theme I chose was that, "people fear what they don't understand".

It's a known fact that people fear what they don't understand. This fear of the unknown is simply an extinct of nature and exists in a global scale. The fear of wondering what is beyond that barrier, that darkness, what could be in there? This theme is very clearly stated in the story line and the characters of Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird". That statement is exactly what this literary analysis paper will be discussing.

One instance of this theme is the mysterious and elusive Arthur Radley, or as the children call him, "Boo Radley". Of course for this theme to fit the children must first not understand Boo. This is true in the book, because the children have never seen Boo Radley come out of his house before. The children have also heard very little about him. In fact this misunderstanding is so severe that the children the dare each other to peek into Boo's window to find out more about him.

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But usually they can't force themselves to do it because of their fear of him which is caused by that very misunderstanding which they were trying to eliminate, causing a very odd paradox making their fear virtually permanent. In turn, because of their lack of information their description of Boo becomes increasingly fantastic the longer they continue without new information. So consequently, their fear grows larger. But all of this misunderstanding and fear finally ends when Boo finally comes out of his house to save Scout from Bob Ewell who was trying to stab her with a knife. Then all of the children's fear suddenly deflated when they found out that Boo was just an ordinary but solitary man.

Another instance of this theme in the book was the seemingly drunk and immoral...