Courage
(Fighting, even if it might be futile)
To Kill a Mockingbird
A major theme of To Kill a Mocking Bird is courage. The idea that Atticus wasn't just going up against almost a whole community of people for what he believed was right, played a major role throughout the book. He even went out of his way to give his children his definition of courage - "courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
Correlation Between Themes
These two themes are the most relevant in this book to me. Without the racism present in the 1930's or in the book then Atticus would probably have never gotten a chance to show his children what true courage is. I believe that the racism is the thing that drives the whole point of this book into its popularity. The whole plot of this book rotated around how this two themes came together. Because of racism and the need for vengeance, Gem finally displayed his courage of going up against a full grown male, in the dark in order to protect his sister. Because of racism, the Tom Robinson case was even considered or turned out with the guilty verdict as it did, hence why Atticus felt as if he had to defend him.