Essay Sample: To Kill A Mockingbird Relevant Today

People still value and read “To Kill a Mockingbird” because of the lessons and morals that we take from it. The book is still very relevant because it includes conflicts that were a big issue during the Great Depression (when this book takes place), and it also addresses sexism, racism, and discrimination in real-life consequences.

At the beginning of this book, the two main characters, Scout and Jem are little kids and start to explore the fundamental themes of this world. Jem, Scout, and Dill sneak into Boo Radleys Property, due to specific interests. This results in Nathan Radley shooting at them. When we get into the central conflict of this book, Tom Robinson being accused of raping a white woman, the kids are sitting on the balcony where the rest of the black people were placed. Atticus, their dad, used to tell them that Mockingbirds should never be killed because of their innocence. Jem and Scout watch the trial and immediately support Tom Robinson – knowing that he is the ‘mockingbird’ here. When the verdict of Tom Robinson occurs, the children are faced with disappointment and anger as they see how discriminating and racist the trial was.  

After the trial, there were certain people wanting their revenge. Jem and Scout were walking back home from a Halloween party at night when they get attacked by Bob Ewell. He  believed that Atticus was pretending to be in favour – thus attacking Jem and Scout as revenge.

Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout, faking the story of Bob Ewell's death, and immediately shuts himself inside his house once again. Later on, Scout tries to be empathetic towards Boo, just like what Atticus taught them their whole life; He taught them to be sympathetic and try to understand people from their point of view. This teaches morality, especially for a book written in the 1900s.

This proves why ‘To Kill a Mockingbird is still “great” today, is because of the dense themes and teachings it gives to anyone that reads it. This book not only has great values but also real-life people and events that occurred, making reading it even more important because you can relate most to what actually happened, past or present.