“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” This quotation reflects the title of the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and the theme also continues throughout the book. Miss Maudie further explains to the children why Atticus is correct. Mockingbirds don’t do any harm and are not pests in any way. All they do is sing beautifully and live peacefully. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy....That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” The mockingbird then comes to represent true goodness and purity.
A mockingbird is a harmless bird that makes the world more pleasant. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the mockingbird symbolizes Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, who were both peaceful people who never did any harm. To kill or harm them would be a sin. Scout's father, Atticus, tells Scout and Jem, "I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.
The Symbolism of the Mockingbird in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy...but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (90). In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” the mockingbird represents innocence. It is shown in 3 different ways. The meaning of killing a mockingbird, how it represents Tom Robinson and how it represents Boo Radley.
The people of Maycomb are ignorant when it comes to race, and the Finch children are innocent and do not know what’s really involved with the case taken up by their father. In the beginning of the book, the children are fixated and intrigued by Boo Radley. He remains mysterious to the town of Maycomb, and they go around to all their neighbours to gather gossip and stories. Throughout “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are many
People hold prejudice against him because he is black. He too, is caged in the jail cell. We first hear about the mockingbird in chapter ten, when Atticus tells the children that they can shoot all the blue jays they wanted but to always remember that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. Miss Maudie tells us that the mockingbird only makes music for people to enjoy. Boo and Tom are connected to this theme when Scout sees that Boo being brought out in the public would be like shottin’ a mockingbird.
To Kill A Mockingbird: Compare and Contrast Essay The Mockingbird “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”(Lee, 90). In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch explains to his daughter Scout, that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because these birds do not do anything to harm or bother others. All they do is sing pretty music for all to enjoy. Within the novel, the theme of the mockingbird is present through the characters of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. These two execute the theme of the mockingbird through the misinterpretation of themselves by the people of Maycomb, their innocence, and bravery throughout the novel.
“The History Teacher” by Billy Collins gives us a lot more imagery regarding how “innocent” the children really are and the teachers ignorance towards how effective lying to the children is when stated at “The children would leave his classroom for the playground to torment the weak and the smart, mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses”, and “...walked home past flower beds and white picket fences”. While A Barred Owl focused on calming a child’s nerves about something unknown, The History Teacher focused on hiding the truth from the children altogether. At the end of each poem, the tone changes drastically. A Barred Owl shows the owl’s true nature, a violent and gruesome one that does not really need to be told to the child at this point in her life. The History Teacher, on the other hand, changes to a tone where we realize that the teachers methods are incorrect.
One major symbol in this story is the mockingbird. It is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Miss Maudie said “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.”
The idea of protecting the innocent is first mentioned in the story when Scout and Jem Finch get guns for Christmas. The Finch kids want to go shooting, but before they do so, their father, Atticus Finch, gives them a warning: “Shoot all the bluejays you want if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90). Scout is puzzled by this message from her dad so she pays a visit to her neighbor, Miss Maudie, to give an explanation of Atticus’s words. Miss Maudie interprets Mr. Finch’s caution and tells Scout, ”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” (Lee 90).
For example, she says: “Atticus was feeble, he was nearly fifty”, which shows us that when Scout seeks her fathers attention, all she gets in response to her probing is: “I’m too old.” Atticus says to Jem when Jem and Scout after they received their air rifles, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mocking bird.” The full significance of this remark is explained to Scout by Miss Maudie Atkinson. “They don’t eat up peoples gardens… they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird…” what they are both saying is that they represent a gentle, harmless creature, both beautiful and innocent. Thus, to kill a mocking bird would be a wicked and spiteful, a senseless and pointless act of destruction.