Comparing To Kill A Mockingbird And My Name Is Asher Lev

David McCallum once said, “Fear, conformity, immorality: these are heavy burdens. They drain us of creative energy. And when we are drained of creative energy, we do not create.” It is hard to have creativity in our minds when factors such as fear, conformity, and immorality stop us from doing so. I agree with this statement. Many people tend to stop forming their own ideas and opinions when there are things that influence them. Two works of literature that relate to this quote are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the environment of racial discrimination makes a difference in a courtroom, where the suspect is an African American and the accuser is a white man. Also, In My Name is Asher Lev, symbolism takes a major role in following conformity.
He is accused of raping a young white woman. As rumor got around that Atticus was defending a black man, many people started to insult Atticus, which caused him to lose strength and confidence. Around his neighborhood, he is characterized by a man who treats everyone as if they were family. When he heard that these people were judging him, he showed signs of doubtfulness. Atticus was hesitant about making the right choice for defending Robinson. Another sign of losing creative energy is when the jury picks the choice of whether or not Tom Robinson is guilty. Even though Atticus clearly showed that the plaintiff was the one who did the crime, conformity influenced the jury of making Tom Robinson guilty only for the reason that he was