To Kill a Mockingbird Theme of Fear

Early in To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel paraphrases Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural address: "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." But fear, itself, can be very scary when it hijacks people’s reason and compassion for others. As another great statesman, Yoda, put it, "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." And where does that all leave us? The Dark Side, or in this case, racism, injustice, harassment, and senseless killing. Fear makes people lash out against what scares them in order to restore their comfort zone, even if they have to destroy innocent lives along the way.

1. Tom is disabled and seems like a nice, unthreatening guy. Why might Maycomb be so scared of him?
2. Why is Mayella so frightened on the witness stand?
3. What does the novel say about what things should be considered scary, and what shouldn’t?
4. How do fear and race relate to each other in the novel?

A specific fear fuels Maycomb’s desire to convict Tom: the fear that if Mayella’s accusation is revealed as false, other African-American men will commit the crime of which Tom is falsely accused.

A significant part of growing up for Scout is losing her fear of the unknown.