The Great Unknown
Most people in the world are scared of something. For some, it is a bug, a clown, or a certain place. From the beginning of time, humans have been scared of the unknown. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the fear of the unknown plays various roles: it explains fear and what it can do, it helps uncover characters’ personality, and it connects to the reader.
The main role of fear of the unknown is to explain the types and consequences of distress. People have been scared of two topics since the beginning of time: material beings, and fear of the unknown. Someone might be scared of spiders, heights, clowns, or any other everyday object. When people are asked; “What are you afraid of?”; most respond with an answer along those lines. However, most people are afraid of what they do not know. In To Kill A Mockingbird the first example of this horror comes at the beginning. Maycomb’s alarm of Boo Radley is fear of the unknown. Nothing they know about Boo is set in stone: therefore, this leads to their primal instincts kicking in, producing stories and explanations that are not true. Boo’s supposed incidents lead to Scout saying, “ Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him” (9). Jem and …show more content…
During the trial, Tom Robinson tried to let people see his side of the story because he was scared. He wasn’t scared of gross food, scratchy jumpsuits, or not seeing his family; he was scared of the unknown punishments and racism. Bob Ewell was scared for a completely different reason during the trial. He was scared of what people might do if Atticus exposed his secret. If people had known he was beating Mayella, they could have hurt him or called him names that he could not even imagine; and those ideas are what scared Bob. Everybody’s unknown is different. When they become trapped in a corner by panic, readers see their true
Most people in the world are scared of something. For some, it is a bug, a clown, or a certain place. From the beginning of time, humans have been scared of the unknown. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the fear of the unknown plays various roles: it explains fear and what it can do, it helps uncover characters’ personality, and it connects to the reader.
The main role of fear of the unknown is to explain the types and consequences of distress. People have been scared of two topics since the beginning of time: material beings, and fear of the unknown. Someone might be scared of spiders, heights, clowns, or any other everyday object. When people are asked; “What are you afraid of?”; most respond with an answer along those lines. However, most people are afraid of what they do not know. In To Kill A Mockingbird the first example of this horror comes at the beginning. Maycomb’s alarm of Boo Radley is fear of the unknown. Nothing they know about Boo is set in stone: therefore, this leads to their primal instincts kicking in, producing stories and explanations that are not true. Boo’s supposed incidents lead to Scout saying, “ Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him” (9). Jem and …show more content…
During the trial, Tom Robinson tried to let people see his side of the story because he was scared. He wasn’t scared of gross food, scratchy jumpsuits, or not seeing his family; he was scared of the unknown punishments and racism. Bob Ewell was scared for a completely different reason during the trial. He was scared of what people might do if Atticus exposed his secret. If people had known he was beating Mayella, they could have hurt him or called him names that he could not even imagine; and those ideas are what scared Bob. Everybody’s unknown is different. When they become trapped in a corner by panic, readers see their true