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

You may refer to:

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 defendants 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 headsthey 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 Theyve done it before and they did it
tonight and theyll 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 bloodstainedif 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.