FEAR

FEAR

Fear makes people lash out against what scares them most. People do this so that they can restore their comfort zone even if they have to destroy innocent lives along the way. Throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird the “fear” throughout the story isn’t really fear it’s just people scared of stupid superstitions like Boo Radley and the fact that all black people are bad and liars.

Multiple Choice:

Tom is a nice guy and one of the most innocent people around however almost everyone in Maycomb is afraid of him why is this?

A. Because he is good friends with Boo Radley
B. Because he is black and all black people are scary
C. Because he stole a Drawer of Mayella’s
D. Because he raped Mayella


Why is Mayella so frightened at the witness stand?

A. Because she has never been in court before
B. Because she doesn’t want Tom Robinson to win
C. Because she wants to say exactly what her father told her
D. Because she got hit on the head and doesn’t remember a thing

How do fear and race relate to each other in the novel?

A. Mayella is scared of Boo
B. Everyone are scared of all black people
C. The black people are afraid of the white people
D. The white people and black people are afraid of Boo Radley

Quotes:

Jem wanted Dill to know once and for all that he wasn't scared of anything: "It's just that I can't think of a way to make him come out without him gettin' us." Besides, Jem had his little sister to think of.

When he said that, I knew he was afraid. (75)

This is when Jem, Dill and Scoutt are all playing outside and are talking about how scary Boo Radley must be little do they know how nice of a guy he is.

As the summer progressed, so did our game. We polished and perfected it, added dialogue and plot until we had manufactured a small play upon which we rang changes every day. (95)

The reason in which the kids were acting out Boo Radley’s life so that they could cope with their fear and realize that he might be a decent guy after all.

Gone was the terror in my mind of stale whiskey and barnyard smells, of sleepy-eyed sullen men, of a husky voice calling in the night, "Mr. Finch? They gone?" Our nightmare had gone with daylight; everything would come out all right. (256)

In the Courtroom environment Scoutt isn’t scared but Tom is in a lot of danger of his life there as he was like the night he was in jail. Scout’s not scared but Tom is.