Worksheet for chapters 1-3
Theme
-the message an author sends with his/her story
-the main idea of a narrative
-not just a topic, but an idea
Examples from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1. subject is discrimination
Theme is discrimination take many forms—gender, racial, and socio-economic.
2. subject is justice
Theme is the law is not always fair.
3. subject is prisons
Theme is we are all imprisoned in some way whether voluntarily or by force.
Now come up with themes for the following subjects:
Grief
Control
Manipulation
Faith
Patience
Endurance
___ (your own subject & theme)
___ (your own subject & theme)
Worksheet for chapters 4-6
Choose three themes to develop. For each theme, list three scenes/examples from the
story that support your stated theme.
Example: We are all imprisoned in some way whether voluntarily or by force.
a. Boo was voluntarily imprisoned in his own house.
b. Scout was imprisoned by her gender and her education.
c. Tom Robinson was literally imprisoned because of his race.
d. Atticus was imprisoned by his morality; he had to do the right thing even if it wasn’t easy or comfortable for him or
his family.
1.
2.
3.
Worksheet for chapters 7-9
Finally, find quotations to support your examples.
Example: Theme is we are all imprisoned in some way whether voluntarily or by force.
a. Boo was voluntarily imprisoned in his own house.
Arthur “Boo” Radley was also imprisoned by his upbringing which left him reclusive. Miss Maudie explained this to Scout one day on the porch:
“Miss Maudie shook her head: ‘If he’s not [crazy] he should be now. The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in
houses behind closed doors, what secrets‘” (Lee 50)
b. Scout was imprisoned by her gender and her education.
Scout is imprisoned by school and the school environment. After the first day of school, Scout comes home and talks to her father: “After supper,
Atticus sat down with the paper and called, …’Something wrong Scout?’ . . . Bit by bit, I told him the day’s misfortunes. . . . “(Lee 34)
c. Tom Robinson was literally imprisoned because of his race.
Tom Robinson is literally imprisoned, yet that imprisonment also devastated his hope and that ultimately caused his suicide. The local newspaper
man reported this to the public: “Mr. Underwood didn’t talk about miscarriages of justice, he was writing so children could understand. Mr.
Underwood simply figure it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of
songbirds for hunters and children, and Maycomb thought he was trying to write an editorial poetical enough to be printed in The Montgomery
Advertiser.” (Lee 243)
d. Atticus was imprisoned by his morality; he had to do the right thing even if it wasn’t easy or comfortable for him or his family.
Atticus is imprisoned by the responsibility of maintaining his integrity. After the trial, Aunt Alexandra explains the toll it takes on her brother,
Atticus. Aunt Alexandra says to Miss Maudie at the tea party, “’I can’t say I approve of everything he does, Maudie, but he’s my brother, and I just
want to know when this will end.’ Her voice rose: ‘It tears him to pieces. He doesn’t show it much, but it tears him to pieces. . . . I mean this town.
They’re perfectly willing to let him do what they’re too afraid to do themselves—it might lose ‘em a nickel. They’re perfectly willing to let him
wreck his health doing what they’re afraid to do. . . ‘” (Lee 239)