Conflict Donna Wylie

Conflict: Donna Wylie

Conflict in a novel is the necessary literary element that is the problem. The conflict is often in the forms of Man vs. self, nature, society, nature, supernatural, etc.

In To kill a mockingbird there are four major conflicts, two

in man vs. man and two in man vs. society. In the conflict Boo Radley vs. Society Boo is seen as the town freak, with many untrue myths confirming Maycomb’s fear of him. Children stay

away from him, and parents fear their children ever becoming like him, unaware that he will become a very important hero in the end.

In the conflict of Robinson vs. White Society Robinson id wrongly convicted of raping Mayella Ewell and loses his life due to the racism in Maycomb. Even though it is obvious to every person in the jury that Robinson is innocent in every way, that he is a har

d working, religious, respectable man, he is still accused of rape, mostly because of his race. In the man vs. man conflicts it is usually about revenge.

In the Bob Ewell vs. Tom Robinson conflict between the Ewells and Tom Robinson, the Mr. Bob Ewell isn’t going against Tom necessarily because he is black but because

SPOILER ALERT!!

he is trying to cover up the fact that he is the one who raped and beat Mayella. Tom is also a convenient and convincing "rapist" because he was at the house frequently and because he is black.

Tom Robinson (pictured left) Mayella Ewell (above)

The last man vs. man conflict in To kill a mocking bird is The Ewells vs. Atticus Finch. During the trial, Atticus was the lawyer for Tom. He proved through many examples and forms of evidence that Bob was guilty, and he also embarrasses Bob by making him write with his left hand, showing that he could have beat Mayella. Because of this he hated Atticus and sought revenge.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Since Bob couldn’t get revenge on Atticus himself he went after Jem and Scout, trying to kill them with him knife. If it wasn’t for Boo Radley to be there they both would have been killed.

http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/mockingbird.html

Citation: For the green blog posts (Donna Wylie)

• Spark notes. To kill a mockingbird. Sparknotes.com. Spark notes LLC. Copyright 2009. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/themes.html - I used this website for most of my information.

• "To Kill A Mockingbird Essay: Use of Symbols and Symbolism." 123HelpMe.com. 18 Apr 2009 . http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=4211 - Symbolism

• I got this information from teachers who posted questions and answers on this website, so I can’t site it properly. http://www.shmoop.com/character-clues/literature/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird.html - Dialogue

• I also got this information from a website students made so I can’t site it properly.http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/mockingbird.html - Conflict