Isolation In To Kill A Mockingbird

Social Isolation and Judgement

Isolating oneself could mean a various amount of explanations, for example: lost of faith in humanity, being judged for a wrongdoing in the past and/or having depression. In the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, she demonstrates isolation from society with The Ewells, the Black Community, and Arthur “Boo” Radley leads to judgement.

The Ewells are isolated from society and are known as “the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (30). The Ewells are judged for the way that they live their life because “none of them had done an honest day’s work” (30) and they “lived like animals” (30). Burris Ewell, one of Robert Ewell’s many children, attends the first day of school and Miss Caroline

He lives inside the town of Maycomb with his father, Nathan Radley. Towards the beginning of the book, the children assume that Boo Radley stays inside because his father forces him to, never taking into consideration that he Boo Radley is choosing to isolate himself because he would be judged by Maycomb for his actions when he was younger. The people of Maycomb form their own opinions based on rumours created by people who assumed what happened. Nobody really knows much about Arthur Radley, other than the fact that “Mr. Radley’s boy was not seen in 15 years” (11). In the novel, people assume that Boo Radley stays inside because his father was punishing him for being a bad kid by making him stay inside the house. Jem comes to the conclusion after the trial that maybe Boo Radley wants to stay inside because of all the hypocrisy, the prejudices, the gossip and the judging and being the topic of some of the gossip and judging he isolates himself away from that environment. The kids make a game of Boo Radley the mysterious person and later Atticus explains to the kids that “You really never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” (30) meaning that people should not be quick to judge people because of the rumours that go around and not truly understanding what happened to that person.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird isolation was portrayed through various characters, specifically the Ewells, the Black Community and Arthur “Boo” Radley. Each of these characters were judged based on irrelevant opinions formed by rumours and complete