To Kill A Mockingbird as a Southern Gothic Novel

Introduction:

Like Tony Morrison's Southern Gothic Novel "Beloved", American Novelist Harper Lee wrote "To Kill A Mockingbird" and achieved the prestigious Pulitzer prize and selected her Novel to create Academy Award films. Southern Gothic Novel is a genre of American Gothic Novels that became popular in the mid 19th century. To Kill A Mockingbird is a Southern Gothic Novel for Racism, innocence, imprisonment, evil, supernatural entities like ghost and ghost house.

Racial Injustice:

Racism is the major issue of Southern Gothic Novels, Tony Morrison's Beloved is the best example for that. In the Novel, Tom Robinson was published only for Racism by the people of Maycomb, a fictional town in Alabama. He was a black man and accused for raping Mayella but it is not true to know Atticus, A honest lawyer, collected a lots of evidence as a proof to free Tom but Tom as a black man who is unable to justice even Atticus says to Jem, his son ,"In our court , when it's a white man's words against a black man's. The white man always wins" and ultimately Tom is imprisoned and shot out when he tries to flee from the jail.

Supernatural Elements:

Ghost and ghost house is another element of the novel to justify as a Southern Gothic Novel. Maycomb's people were given a tag to Boo Radley as a ghost and his house as a ghost house. Most of the children of Maycomb are afraid of Boo Radley hearing his name and story. Miss Stephanie tells the story about Boo to the children,"He drove the scissor into his parents leg, pulled them out, wiped on his pants, and resumed his activities". Even Boo Radley was a grey ghost with "Face was a white as his hands and his grey eyes were so colourless". He spent most of the time alone in his mysterious house and he has not seen his face very much because of his shyness.

Moral ethics:

Innocence is another topic of southern Gothic Novel in which innocent and good people must be victimized. In the story, Tom was a good and harmless person like Mockingbird but his life ended with the bullet of Racism. Boo Radley was not actually a ghost but became a ghost by the people of Maycomb. He loves to spend alone in his house as well as he was a very helpful and harmless man but he achieved the rank of Grey Ghost specially to the children as a gift.

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The Foreboding of Evil:

It shows in the Novel throughout the Character images. Bob Ewell, father of Mayella, who was an antagonist, threatened and insulted other people and it takes the highest peak as foreboding of evil at the end when he was violent and inhumane. The suspicious house of Boo Radley, moonless night and mad dog all are represented as the sigh of evil in the story.

Symbols:

Symbol also a part of the Southern Gothic Novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet letter"used "A" as a symbol of multiple meanings and in the  To Kill A Mockingbird, the title not only is Symbolised but also characters, images and setting are used as the symbol. Mockingbird is the symbol of innocence and harmlessness like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. Fictional town Maycomb is also a symbol of Racism and Atticus Finch is the symbol of the protagonist.

Conclusion:

So, through the discussion,we ultimately reach the conclusion part and no doubt say the Novel as a Southern Gothic Novel that fulfills all criteria throughout Characters, Symbols, images and setting.