Finding Theme

Proficiency (75/100): identify a theme

“In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one theme

is the power of childhood imagination.”

Approaching mastery (85/100): provide textual evidence

In chapter one, shortly after meeting Dill, Scout says “we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies” (p. 9). This description of Dill demonstrates the value Jem and Scout placed upon a friend with a powerful imagination.

Later on in chapter four, Scout describes the new game Jem, Dill and she played—the Boo Radley story. Scout exclaimed “we polished and perfected it, added dialogue and plot until we had manufactured a small play upon which we rang changes everyday” (p. 43). Scout has described a game in which the children took the bare bones of a real story, and added to it their childish imaginings. The kids know very little that is fact about the Radleys, and thus they must embellish the truth with fantasy. The power of their imagination is shown in how they came to believe the “fantasy information” as truth.

Mastery (100/100): connect theme to world outside text

Worldwide, children gather in schoolyards, front yards and backyards to play “make-believe.” Children are not hardened by the reality of life yet, and all things are possible. The world is an exciting and mysterious place for children, made even more interesting by their imagination. Most of the time, these make-believe games are positive—they stretch the capabilities of the brain and stimulate creativity, and help children make sense of the world. But occasionally, as with Scout, Jem and Dill, the game of make-believe ends up unintentionally making fun of innocent people, and becomes unkind.