“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (90). This is where Miss Maudie Atkinson tells Scout why killing a mockingbird is a sin. Mockingbirds do nothing unpleasant for people, only make them happier.
The mockingbirds in the story, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley get undeserving treatment during the novel until it is known to the people of Maycomb that they are good and pure. In the case of Tom Robinson it was too late as they killed him before they could learn what a good person he actually was. He got charged for a crime he did not commit, and Boo Radley got rumors spread about him that were anything but true. “It is wrong to kill the mockingbird just because you don’t like its
When Nathan Radley fills in the tree hole that Boo left gifts for the kids in, Jem cries because he realizes how important that was to Boo. Later in the story, Scout wants to kill a roly-poly bug, but Jem stops her, “Why couldn’t I mash him?” I asked. “Because they don’t bother you” Jem answered (Lee, 320). Most importantly, Jem protects his sister from an attack by Bob Ewell, but breaks his arm in the process. Bob is a symbol of hate and evil and by attacking the children in an attempt to get back at Atticus this is also symbolizing Jem
In the town of Maycomb, you cannot run from judgment. For example, Boo is just a man who has not come out of his house in forty-six years, and Scout sees him as some kind of monster. Everything Scout hears about Boo, she believes. “When people’s azaleas froze ina cold snap, it was because he breathed on them. Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.” (Lee 10).
Since they are such easy victims, they are accused of things they clearly have not done. Tom Robinson is accused of raping a Mayella Ewell who is a white girl. Through the trail it is made clear that Mayella had not been raped by Tom, but beat by her father. “If her right eye was blacked…it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it” (178). “[Tom Robinson’s] left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right… I could see it was no use to him” (186).
Boo Radley is portrayed as en evil figure for most of the novel, mainly due to rumours circulating about him. For example, Jem is told by Miss Stephanie Crawford (the town gossip) that Boo “[drives] [a pair] of scissors into his [father’s] leg, pull[s] them out, wipe[s] them on his pants, and resume[s] his activities” (11).Boo’s innocence is shown, however, when Jem says to Scout; “I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It’s because he wants to stay inside"(231). This passage reveals to the reader that Boo Radley is not a figure to be afraid of, but to be pitied. Boo is afraid of how Maycomb will judge him, much like how the blacks are judged and prejudiced against by the whites.
All Boo did was mind his own business and got punished and judged for it. Boos innocence was hidden behind his way of protecting himself from turning into a cruel citizen of Maycomb like the rest. Boo was judged unfairly his whole life but in the end the only thing he did was save two young lives, this making him a representation of the mockingbird. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee there are several people symbolized by the mockingbird. The mockingbird symbol is used to represent innocence and people getting judged unfairly which teaches those who read the novel, empathy and not to judge others by things heard by a second-hand
Because of this racism, Tom tried to escape from his town but ended up being killed. Atticus was trying to bring about justice, and trying to protect an innocent person. This went against the social codes of this time period. Blacks were under constant attack because of their skin color. But this did not matter to Atticus; he went against everyone, and what everyone said just to prove that Tom was innocent.
A recluse who never steps foot outside his house, Arthur is an object of fascination for many Maycomb residents. Throughout the novel, Arthur implements specific acts that make him one of the mockingbirds of the novel. Arthur is described as someone who eats cats, hates children, stays at home and is a monster. There was no hope that he would come out of his house until one night he made his first appearance. During Miss Maudie’s house fire, Jem and Scout were standing in the cold weather watching the fire.
Sympathy I enjoyed Lee’s use of the theme of sympathy throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Through Lee’s protagonist Atticus Finch, he shows the importance of sympathy by examining the ability to understand another’s perspective, specifically those of Miss Caroline Fisher and Boo Radley. The first instance occurs when fisher yells at Scout for already knowing how to read. She takes offense because Scout prevented her from teaching everyone in her own way. Later that evening, Atticus tries to explain to Scout why Fisher yelled at her.