Symbolism In To Kill A Mocking
"I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want , if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." This is what Atticus Finch tells his children after they are given air-rifles for Christmas. Uniquely, the title of the classic novel by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird, was taken from this passage. At first glance, one may wonder why Harper Lee decided to name her book after what seems to be a rather insignificant excerpt. After careful study, however, one begins to see that this is just another example of symbolism in the novel. Harper Lee uses symbolism rather extensively throughout this story, and ...
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entirely out of snow, so Jem made a foundation out of dirt, and then covered it with what snow they had. One could interpret this in two different ways. First of all, the creation of the snowman by Jem can be seen as being symbolic of Jem trying to cover up the black man and showing that he is the same as the white man, that all human beings are virtually the same. Approval of these views is shown by Atticus when he tells Jem, "I didn't know how you were going to do it, but from now on I'll never worry about what'll become of you, son, you'll always have an idea." The fire that night that engulfed Miss Maudie Atkinson's house can be seen as the prejudice of Maycomb County, as the fire melted the snow from the snowman, and left nothing but a clump of mud. The fire depicts the prejudice people of the county saying that blacks and whites are, certainly, not the same. Another way of looking at the symbolism of the snowman would be to say that Jem's combination of mud and snow ...
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of their aims to change the racist ways of Maycomb. The actions of the children do, indeed, symbolize various themes in the racist South.
The behavior of the prejudice white people of Maycomb County is greatly expressive, as well. For example, the red geraniums that Mayella Ewell kept in her yard are very illustrative. These flowers represent "Southern white womanhood." The fence that surrounds the Ewells property is symbolic of the fear and racism of the Southern whites that tries to protect this womanhood.
The purity of the womanhood is being protected from miscegenation, from the black man. As the black quarters lie just beyond the Ewell's house, the entire scene (the flowers, ...
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"Symbolism In To Kill A Mocking." Essayworld.com. April 18, 2004. Accessed April 18, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Symbolism-In-To-Kill-A-Mocking/6435.
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