Essay On Symbolism In To Kill A Mockingbird

The mockingbird in the title of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," symbolizes a number of characters throughout the novel. In order to fully understand why these characters symbolize killed mockingbirds, one must first understand what the title represents and why it's wrong to kill a mockingbird. The idea that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird was first mentioned by Atticus Finch (the protagonist's, Scout, father) when he saw the children shooting things with BB guns. As he knows that soon they will go after birds, he tells them: "Shoot all the Blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”. As Miss Maudie (the Finch's next-door neighbour) explains to Scout, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird because

In the story Boo Radley plays the role of Scout and Jem’s guardian angel. He watches over them and helps them when they get into trouble. In the first chapters, the kids make fun of Boo, they taunt him. All they know about him is what they have heard, that he is a crazy man. Throughout the story though, Boo proves them wrong.

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird there are two kids named Scout and Jem. They have heard many stories and rumors about a boy named Boo Radley. The Radleys house is just a couple doors down from the Finches and the kids try to avoid it because “inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee 9) Boo has not been seen outside of his house in a very long time. Before Boo “locked” himself in his house he was friends with a group of troublemakers. They did not do much more than hang out, but one night they harassed a beadle and were arrested.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are both symbolized as the mockingbird. The first person who was inferred as a mockingbird was Boo Radley. Boo Radley is recognized as one of the mockingbirds of the story because he has not done anything horrible. Scout talks to Miss Maudie about the rumors she has heard about Boo and Miss Maudie says that he has not done any of those rumors. The only other person who claims she has seen Boo doing something bad was Miss Stephanie who has a very big mouth.

Boo Radley is a mysterious recluse who was known for being a delinquent as a teenager. Many people in Maycomb believed the fabrications made about Boo because he isolated himself, a predilection that was unacceptable in Maycomb (Lee 11). The town created a fictitious profile of Boo and misjudged him. In the beginning of the novel, Boo Radley was portrayed as a monster that sparked the interest of Scout and Jem as they made various attempts to try to get Boo to leave his house. As the novel progresses, Scout and Jem realized that “Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time … because he wants to stay inside" (Lee 304).

Multiple characters are symbolized as mockingbirds because it would be a sin to kill them as they only try and want to be a kind, civil person. Boo Radley is a misunderstood, and kind-hearted man who is represented as a mockingbird in the novel. Boo, due to the county's curiosity and fast pace spreading of rumours, is often perceived as monster “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee 8).

A day came when they were acting out Boo’s life and Atticus says, “that you never really understand a person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (36). Boo teaches Scout and Jem not to judge a person based on rumors because later in the book, they find out that Boo is not this evil person as the society perceives but he is an innocent and kind person, symbolic of a mockingbird. Boo also teaches Jem and Scout a major theme of the book which is that it's terrible to do harm to an innocent person as Atticus would say, “It is a sin to kill a mockingbird.” At the end of the book, when Tate and Atticus are hiding the case of Boo killing Bob, Scout reminds Atticus that charging Boo with murder would be, “Like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”(276) It refers back to when Atticus told them it’s a sin to kill mockingbird because they don’t harm you. Boo is symbolic of a mockingbird because he didn’t do harm to anyone.

Many people, including Scout, Jem, and Dill, are afraid of things Boo hasn’t done. Furthermore, Boo always stays home, which makes others think Boo’s father has been punishing him for his actions. Yet this isn’t true, as Jem states, “...when I was your age...(I thought) if there’s just one kind of folks, why can’t they get along with each other?... Scout… I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time... it’s

Then, Miss Maudie’s house caught on fire in the middle of a cold night, causing the whole neighborhood to wake up and go outside to see what was happening. Jem and Scout were standing in front of the Radley house, watching the fire, when somebody came and put a blanket over Scout’s shoulders. At the time, neither Jem nor Scout noticed this happen, but later they realized it had to have been Boo. Later on, after the Halloween play at the school, the Finch children were walking home in the dark when they were attacked by Bob Ewell. Jem and Scout could have been killed, but again, Boo came out at just the right moment and saved them.

Boo Radley, a prevalent, although often unseen, character in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, was no exception. Throughout the novel, rumors and lies altered the public perception of Boo Radley. Very often, these rumors propagated, as they were distorted further

Boo Radley, a character who never comes out of his house and sounds as scary as his name portrays an important theme in Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird. The classic is rich with themes and inspires many people to learn from these themes. One of the main themes is developed by Tim Johnson, the pet of Maycomb, Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of rape, and Boo Radley. The theme these characters are developing is that it is a sin to hurt or kill something that is not harmful.

Throughout the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee, the readers can see how Scout changes her view about Boo Radley. Because of their nosiness, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to drag Boo out his house and to the outside world. Their innocent actions combined with Boo’s actions changed the image of Boo, in their minds, from “a malevolent phantom” (10), a person who kills cats and eats squirrels to a neighbor they can trust, who saves them from Bob Ewell. Scout says at the end, “Boo was our neighbor” (373). The readers can see a great change in their relationship.

Boo Radley is a mysterious person who often staked out by Jem, Scout and Dill. Apparently, Boo save Jem. It turned out that Boo Radley was not as unexpected. Then Atticus tells Jem about Boo who is a symbol like a mockingbird.

Option 2 Literary Analysis To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel set during the 1930s in a small town in Southern Alabama called Maycomb. The story is told through the narrator, Scout, a young girl who lives with her father, a lawyer, and her older brother Jem. As a child, Scout is portrayed as a stubborn and obnoxious little girl who loves to read, play with her brother Jem, and fantasize about her mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. However, her life gets turned upside down when Scout’s father agrees to do something that is deemed unacceptable in the south; he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping a white girl. Instantly, Atticus and his family go from being respected and beloved by their town, to being

Boo Radley represents one of the “mockingbirds” in the book, and a mockingbird is someone that is pure and innocence in the world. He is a good person that is hurt by the evil of mankind. In a lot of ways, Boo Radley might have have wanted to stay shut up in his house after seeing some of the awful acts that the townspeople have committed. But after seeing the Finch kids being attacked by Bob Ewell he had no choice but to leave the comfort of his own home that he has been enclosed in for so long to come out and save them. All though it would have been easier for this man to stay in his house rather than leave and then be drug into court, he did what he knew would be right and rescued the