Innocence and the Mockingbird The mockingbird is a very important symbol in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In the novel, Jem and Scout are raised by a single father, Atticus, who is also a lawyer. Atticus is given the job of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, in court. Tom is clearly innocent, but because of racial prejudice during the Great Depression, he is proven guilty. Also, Boo Radley, the neighbor of Jem and Scout, kills Bob Ewell, the man who tried to attack Jem and Scout.
What does one think of when courage comes to mind? Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. Likewise, it is strength in the face of pain or grief. Several characters show courage in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, although it may not be obvious at first. Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell, Ms. Dubose overcomes her morphine addiction, and Atticus defends Tom Robinson even though he is colored.
Killing a mockingbird is a sin in many cultures because of the animal’s innocent nature; in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird she immaculately illustrates this. To Kill a Mockingbird is about the Finch family, which consists of: Scout (Jean), Atticus, Calpurnia, and Aunt Alexandra. They reside in the modest town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. The father of the family, Atticus, is defending a colored person, Tom Robinson, in a court case regarding rape. In turn, this affects Atticus’ children, Scout and Jem, negatively.
In real-life, Scout and Jem are revealed to court cases, racism, murder, and etc. and they use different lessons from the past to get over these events. Hardships are often throughout To Kill A Mockingbird and bring aha moments to Scout and Jem. Evidence from the book shows how a real-life situation is more valuable in lessons to Scout and Jem “After all if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I” (Lee 271). This quote shows though Scout and Aunt Alexandra heard about Tom being shot to death, Scout realizes how to turn this situation to help herself mature and looking on the bright side taking after Aunt Alexandra.
Have you ever judged someone and eventually realized that you were completely wrong about them? This is the case in To Kill A Mockingbird, which focuses on the two main characters, siblings Jem and Scout. The book talks about their relationship with their seemingly crazy and mysterious neighbor, Arthur “Boo” Radley. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scouts views on Boo Radley really change. In the beginning, they know him only by rumors and stories, then as being frightening and mysterious, and eventually by coming to realize that he is a very different person than they had figured him to be.
In that time, there were many heavy social standards and one of those standards was accepting Jim Crow. One example of one person not being able to combat Jim Crow due to the social pressure was in the book To Kill A Mockingbird. One of the characters, Dolphus Raymond, liked hanging out with black people and was friends with them. He knew that there was pressure against it, so he took the cowardly way out by pretending to be drunk as an excuse to hang out with them. The fictional character of Mr. Raymond is a great embodiment of the mental state of the silent few in America that knew that Jim Crow was wrong, but didn’t have the means or willpower to end it.
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Arthur aka Boo Radley is a mockingbird because he is a kind recluded person getting harassed by everyone because he’s different but he’s really just a nice person, shy and even protected Jem and Scout from their attacker showing his courage. To begin with, Boo is nice because he gave many things to Scout and Jem through the knothole till his brother Nathan clogged it up with cement because it was “dying” as Scout and Jem thought but really isn’t much proof. “We were walking past our tree. In its knot-hole rested a ball of gray twine”(59) after a bit of talking Jem convinced Scout not to take it yet and leave it waiting to see if someone like Walter Cunningham would take it back. “We went back home.
The Scout and Jem are in the learning stage and they will learn the importance of justice later in the book. Scout often consults Jem for wisdom and support, but the Jem sometimes give a wrong advice. Actual Mockingbird The name of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” suggests that the mockingbirds are important. In the initial phase, the Jem and Scout were learning to use their shiny air rifles and the Atticus doesn’t teach them to shoot, but he actually gives them some rules to follow: He says to shoot at cans made of tin in the backyard and bluejays, but doesn’t ever hit a mockingbird because it is a sin. The mockingbirds are guiltless and it is a peccadillo to kill them.
Another lesson Boo helps Scout to understand is when Scout and Jem got air rifles and Atticus explained, “‘shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’…‘mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy’”(Lee 90). She is taught this lesson through the characters Boo and Tom Robinson. Tom was shown as a Mockingbird since everyone had known he was innocent but was charged, showing that they were sentencing a Mockingbird. Another reason why Tom is a Mockingbird is even during his testimony, he did not tell the court about everything that had happened that evening, just so that he could save Mayella one last beating. Tom tells us during his testimony that Mayella asked
Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work." For the children, Boo Ridley became a legend about a terrifying monster that never left house. They conversed among themselves about the "monster",and the two boys even acted out Boo 's untrue history. They 've heard simply untrue rumors about Boo Radley, just like how I heard rumors about Mr. Cash. However, as they grew older and the story progressed towards the trial, Boo Radley was no longer on the minds of the children.