Critical Lens (Revised)

"In literature, evil often triumphs, but never conquers."

       Someone once said, "In literature, evil often triumphs, but it never conquers." Two novels that support this idea are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Girl That Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow. These two novels are great examples of how evil and horrible things are often presented in the stories one finds themselves reading, but they are never able to vanquish.

       In Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, we are introduced to a society that, like ours today, is filled with the evils of racism and prejudice. One example of an evil that triumphed but did not conquer is when the townspeople started to treat Scout and Jem differently because Atticus was defending Tom Robinson in court. The story is set in Maycomb, Alambama during a time when racism was very prominent. Even though this made things difficult for Jem and Scout, they never let the ignorance of other people affect their love for their father. They were raised not to care about what others thought because "the one thing that doesn't go by majority rule is a person's conscience." This shows that Jem, Scout, and Atticus are all very strong characters in this novel and aren't so easily swayed by the the negative views of others. No matter what people thought, they were never convinced or manipulated to change their feelings about the courace case or each other. another example of an evil that was not able to overpower Jem and Scout was their fear of Boo Radley. At first, Jem and Scout were terrified of him because they were so easily influenced by one of society's evils: gossip. In continuation of the motif of prejudice, most of the townspeople said bad things about Boo Radley simply because he was different. Thankfully, after Boo saves Jem and Scout's livees, they were able to overcome that negative outlook and see the kind and courageous person that Boo Radley actually was. Another example of of how evil is unable to conquer is in the novel's main character, Atticus Finch. Throughout the novel, the author's moral voice is embodied in Atticus, who is surrounded by such evils as hate and prejudice. Atticus even finds himself to be fighting a losing battle of defending Tom Robinson in a clearly racist court room. He understands that their is evil in the world, but he never loses his faith in humanity and its ability to be good. 

       Another novel that supports the idea that evil cannot conquer in literature is Heidi W. Durrow's The Girl That Fell From the Sky. One example of a horrible evil that was not able to conquer the main character was when Rachel's mother made her children jump off the apartment building with her to die. Rachel's mother was unable to deal with the social injustices her children were being exposed to in America for being bi-racial, and wanted them to end their lives with her. Luckily Rachel survived the fall, and was able to have a second chance at life. Another example of an evil that was not able to conquer in Rachel's life was the death of her aunt. Rachel really looked up to her aunt because she felt that she was the only one in her family that accepted and acknowledged the fact that she was both black and white. Rachel was told at an early age "that black people don't have blue eyes. I learn that I am black. I have blue eyes." Her aunt helped her realize that it was beautiful to be both black and white. Even though Rachel was negatively affected by her aunt passing away, as a character she was still able to go on with her life and learn to love herself for who she was. Her aunt's love helped build the stepping stones in Rachel's life that would continue to get her through hard times that would come up in her future with strength.

       Harper Lee's novel and Heidi W. Durrow's novel are both similar and different in many ways. One example of how they novels are similar is that they both have a theme based on racism. in To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson is automatically considered to be guilty because he is African American. In The Girl That Fell From the Sky, Rachel grows up feeling different from everyone because she is not accepted by the white community or the African American community because she is bi-racial. Another example of how the books are similar is that in both novels, the people that were facing hard ships because of the color of their skin had someone on their side trying to help better their situation. In Harper Lee's novel, Atticus was defending Tom Robinson in court because he truly believed that he was innocent, regardless of his race. In Durrow's novel, Rachel's aunt was always there for her and taught her to love herself for who she was despite the harsh comments that people made about her. These two novels, however, are also very different. In To Kill a Mockingbird, only the white community was prejudice towards Tom Robinson. In The Girl That Fell From the Sky, Both the black and white communities were prejudice towards Rachel.

       With these differences and similarities, both novels are still able to drive the same point home that evil can never truly conquer. Both of these novels show main character that are able to overcome evils that could have ruined their lives. The characters in these novels are great examples of people that stood their ground in the face of adversity, and never gave up on what they believed was right.