The movie “To Kill A Mockingbird” has many plot points and many different areas that can be discussed, but the one thing that stuck with me had to be the villain of the movie. We are made to believe early on that the villain is Boo Radley, a misunderstood character who because he is rarely seen, is the neighborhood boogie man. Boo lives in the classic haunted house, at least in a kid’s eyes. It has creaky doors and steps and the steps even are worn with holes in them. I knew immediately that Boo was not really the villain, and it was not because I saw the movie before as I barely remember it from then. I guess it was just too obvious a red heron to me, especially when Jem, Scout’s brother, goes on the Radley porch to look into a dusty window to see Boo. This is when they cleverly used shadows to show that Boo was about to grab him, but when Jem curled up in fear, Boo walked away. This is when I realized that I was right. Throughout the movie, he gave the kids via a hole in a tree gifts but this becomes evident that they are meant for them when the kids find wood toys of them in the tree. To me this showed that Boo was a caring person.
The true villain of the movie is racism or more specifically, Mr. Bob Ewell. His daughter is the one who accused Tom Robinson, a black man, of rape. He is a jerk in my opinion and even scared Atticus’ son Jem while he was in the car waiting for his father to be done talking to Tom’s wife before the trial. We later discover that although Tom is innocent of the charges, he is found guilty anyway by an all-white trial. This upsets me greatly. I know that this happened back then (and sadly still does sometimes) but it still disgusts me. I absolutely despise racism or even profiling. I feel it is wrong, everyone should be judged by who they are and not the color of their skin, the language they speak, whether they are male or female or transgender, or anything else. I also despise the language in this movie. Although I know it is time period accurate I really hate the N word and almost walked out when it was said. I find it repulsive and in most cases will turn off a show at home if it is used. I guess it is just how I was brought up.
In the end, although Tom dies, Bob Ewell is so humiliated by Atticus’ defense in the trial that he plans to have revenge on his kids Jem and Scout. This when Boo’s true self is seen as he saves Jem as Scout watches but is not sure what she saw. Bob is killed but whether Boo killed him or not was kept a mystery. This is why I say although racism is the true villain of this movie, Bob is the main embodiment of it in this film in my oinion.
I really hate to admit this, but when we were told we would be watching “To Kill A Mockingbird” in class, I groaned as I remembered hating it when I saw it almost two decades ago in school. What is funny though, is that my tastes have changed so much that I actually enjoyed it. I especially liked how it made me feel and care about these characters and also thought that making the boogie man of the neighborhood, Boo, the hero was an excellent idea. I would have no problem not only recommending this movie to others, but will admit that I might re watch it again soon to see it without any distractions or interruptions.
