In the novel however the realistic portrayal of characters and the dramatisation of their thoughts allows the reader author to alter the readers perception of a character from a particular subculture, by doing away with stereotypes the author has more control and freedom over character development and hence the availability of possibilities for later actions to occur within the story.

             Themes play an important role in the development of a story, themes provide conflicts and resolutions for the story line, themes allow for the reader to identify with aspects and ideals residing in the story. Due to the obviously brief nature of a short story the element of themes is usually singular and may refer to a limited number of other themes as reference to support the presiding theme. "A blow, A kiss" is a prime example of this trend, The obvious theme in this story is about the bond between father and son and Albie struggling to make sense of the lack of that bond between another father and son. "A blow, A kiss" also has underlying references to alcoholism and family values and the effects alcohol has on the family unit. The themes in Harper Lee"s novel however evolve differently, The underlying theme resides about the inclusion of racism and prejudice within society. "To kill a mocking bird" delves into several themes including; the maturing of Jem and Scout, respect for others, Acceptance of people who appear strange and reclusive only because they are misunderstood by the majority. Because of the length of the novel this allows for the author Harper Lee to introduce more complicated and intertwined themes, for instance the during the process of Jem and Scout maturing they both begin to realise the harshness of their child fantasies of making Boo Radley "come out". Longer time in the book allows for these issues to be dealt with in a more in depth view rather than letting the reader identify with an already prominent issue within society and then contributing the views of the author but instead writing into the story a group of common issues that help the reader to understand the issue and offer a new perspective.