Coexistence of Good and Evil in to Kill a Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, she uses methods of characterisation such as action/incident, emotional setting, reaction, and thoughts to convey the theme of ‘Good and Evil can coexist’. To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel set in 1930’s Alabama during the Great Depression in the small town of Maycomb. The plot follows the trial of an African-American man through the eyes of a young girl, Jean Louise Finch, or Scout. Lee excels in her use of characterisation, especially in characters such as Mrs Dubose, Mayella Ewell and Mr Walter Cunningham.

Mrs Dubose is a great example of how Good and Evil can coexist as she shows aspects of each herself. Like Atticus says, “ Mrs Dubose had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe…I wanted Jem and Scout to see what real courage is.” Mrs Dubose has her own opinions and views on matters. Often they oppose Atticus’s, like her views on racial equality, and how to be a lady. Nevertheless, Atticus respects her because she shows real courage in the way she reacts to her morphine addiction. Mrs Dubose didn’t want to rely on it for the rest of her life, she wanted to leave this world “beholden to nothing and nobody”. This new information allows both the reader and the characters to see that Mrs Dubose was ‘good’, in a different way. Harper Lee allowed a picture to be painted of Mrs Dubose as a cruel, racist old lady, then changes this image by introducing previously unknown details. Mrs Dubose is used as a starting point to introduce the theme of the coexistence of good and evil using action/incident and then built on this theme during the trial later in the book. 

One of the best examples of Lee’s great writing is Mayella Ewell, her character could come across as evil and dishonest, but Lee shows there is more to her. Mayella did lie on the stand by saying things like: “Just run up behind me, he did. Tom got me round the neck, cussin‘ me an’ sayin‘ dirt — I fought’n’hollered”. As a result, she did help get Tom Robinson a ‘guilty’ verdict and contributed to his death. But, we can make assumptions about what and how she is thinking; her father abuses her when he sees her kissing Tom so she is most likely scared. As seen later in the book, Bob Ewell gets drunk enough to try and kill kids, he could do the same for his adult daughter. Mayella’s situation is further shown when Atticus is questioning Mayella and he asks her if her father beat her up. She stays silent, and adult Scout describes her face as “ a mixture of terror and fury”(Lee,100). By not answering Atticus’ question Mayella makes a big mistake. She realises this and gets scared of her father since he is the one who coerced her into lying. Scout specifically uses the word ‘terror’ to describe her, which according to the Cambridge Dictionary is defined as ‘extreme fear’, like someone would be afraid in a life-threatening situation. This shows the reader the emotional setting that Mayella is in, she is terrified of her father. While Mayella might be considered more evil than ‘good’, Lee is able to make the audience sympathize with Mayella to an extent by using description and allowing the reader to make inferences about her emotional setting and thoughts. 

On a separate line, there is Mr Cunningham, who is originally depicted as a good man, rather than vice versa. During the events at the jail, the reader sees Mr Walter Cunningham and a mob of people trying to get past Atticus: “‘You know what we want,’ Mr. Cunningham said. ‘Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.’ ‘You can turn around and go home again, Walter’”. Mr Cunningham and the mob, are trying to kill Tom because they believe he is guilty. They are even willing to hurt Atticus to get to Tom. Harper Lee uses this incident and his reaction to show Walter Cunningham’s bad side. However, when Scout talks to him and brings up his son, he backs down and stops the mob “‘I’ll tell Walter Jr. you said hey, little lady,...Let’s clear out,’ he called. ‘Let’s get going, boys’.” (Lee, 82). Once again, Lee uses this event, and his reaction to it to show his good side. While the reader never gets a concrete answer on why he backed down, assumptions can be made on his thought process. Mr Cunningham stopped only after Scout brought up his son, so he might’ve realised that Atticus too, had children and he didn’t want to affect them. It is also possible he backed down since he remembered what Atticus did for him and that The Finches, at least Atticus, were friends. Walter Cunningham, unlike the other two characters, is perceived as a good man who did (or was going to do) some bad things. Mr Cunningham's actions and perceived thoughts help the reader understand this. 

Harper Lee created very diverse characters to highlight one of the key messages that good and evil can coexist. Lee used different forms of characterisation, such as reaction, action or incident, emotional setting, and thoughts to get this theme across. The novel shows how good and evil can coexist even in the same person. As Atticus said: “Mr. Cunningham’s basically a good man,... he just has his blind spots along with the rest of us.” People don’t have to be completely good, or completely evil, everyone has aspects of both, and the bad doesn’t have to define a person.