Killing Birds as a Metaphor in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

Primary Evidence: Atticus killed Tim the dog so that his family and Cal would be safe and not get attacked (Lee 96). 2. Interpretation: Mockingbirds are very territorial, which Atticus shows when he tries to protect Jem and Scout from the dangers of not only people, but animals. C. Claim: Atticus also shows courage especially when he represents a black man in a racist town.

The same thing happens in To Kill a Mockingbird by the majority of the characters whenever something happens that incriminates them. A demonstration of self-preservation in the novel is when Atticus is cross-examining Mayella Ewell in court. During the cross-examination, Atticus says, “What did your father see in the window, the crime of the rape or the best defense to it? Why don’t you tell the truth, child, didn’t Bob Ewell beat you up?” (Lee 251).

In addition, Atticus Finch is another victim of prejudice in the novel. After being chosen to defend Tom Robinson, the town folk starts to exhibit prejudice towards him. The town folk trust that Atticus will not present a legitimate defense for Tom because of his skin color, but Atticus full heartedly intends to do so because he believes in equal rights and condones in prejudice or racism. In addition, Atticus Finch is also the victim of

TKaM Notes: USE PRESENT TENSE Thesis: The most obvious form of discrimination in Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird is racism; however, there are other types of prejudice and discrimination that typify relationships among the novel’s characters. It varies between a troubled boy and his town, a lonely woman and her fellow Baptists, and two siblings against the rest of their school. Each of these stories has common ground, but specify into contrasting situations. One might say, how can discrimination cripple a person's being?

Everything changes after Boo Radley saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee develops the theme to think for yourself through diction, imagery, and symbolism. In the first place, Harper Lee uses diction to develop the theme to think for yourself. For example in this quote it said, “ He almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark” (372).

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley are two characters who represent the mockingbird. In the midst of finding who Boo truly is, Atticus Finch explains to his children, Jem and Scout, that it is a sin to kill the bird because they don’t do anything but make music. As the story progresses, and the two “mockingbirds” are being accused and attacked both verbally and physically, the identity of the mockingbirds surfaces. Tom Robinson was a crippled African American man whose left arm was a foot shorter than his right, where it was caught in a cotton gin.

In the part two of the book, Tom Robinson, a black man is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. The social norm of this time was to respect whites, and treat blacks differing. Therefore, it was a sin for Tom to disrespect Mayella. Atticus Finch, a lawyer and respected white man fought for Tom and bravely tried as his lawyer. On trial, there was evidence that Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father beat, and raped her.

To Kill A Mockingbird is a beautifully written piece of literature that illustrates the symbolism of a mockingbird. Harper Lee has created this to show how not only is it a sin to kill a mockingbird but also people who act in the same manner. Tom Robinson plays a major role as a mocking bird because he is discriminated against, knocked down, and doesn’t fight back harshly. All mockingbirds do is sing sweet songs in the treetops and the only thing they get in return is death. Tom Robinson, similarly, shows kindness toward others but gets hatred in exchange.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus struggles to fight for Tom Robinson freedom because of his skin color. He has to face many challenges such as Sacrifice and Love and injustice for Tom and his family. Even though many people didn’t agree with Atticus on supporting Tom Robinson he never used violence, but only words to defend himself from the insults. This shows how people are cruelly to colored persons just because of their skin color but they don’t stop to think that they are people

He never takes anything very lightle, he finds almost every situation as a life lesson for Jem and Scout. When Atticus gives Scout and Jem guns for christmas and explains to them that they may shoot birds but only bluejays and no mockingbirds. He says, “Shoot all the bluejays you want but remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird” (90). He takes this small event of giving the children guns and makes it the overall theme of the novel. The mockingjay is now used as a symbol for many different situations in the novel.

Tom Robinson is in court because he is accused of raping Bob Ewell 's daughter. Tom is a black man and during that time they were still being discriminated and being treated unfairly. Bob is a white man and when a white man accuses a black man of anything the white man is the outcome is usually in the white man 's favor. In the courthouse Atticus was trying to defend Tom Robinson, he uses an allusion and says, " But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal--there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein..." (210).

They find a ball of gray twine, chewing gum, a spelling bee medal and an old pocket watch. Also she thinks that Boo Radley has been leaving the treasures in the tree. 21. The next day they see that the tree is plugged with cement. I think that Mr. Nathan Radley told the children that the tree was dying so that way the children wouldn’t think he did it because he didn’t want them to get any more presents from the tree.

Unfortunately, more often than not, there are people in our society that are unlawfully criticized and harassed even though they cause no harm or trauma. Even more surprising is that some of these ‘beleaguered’ individuals are trying to help their community in ways that the general public doesn’t agree upon, so they refuse to see it. This idea of innocents being destroyed by evil is largely evident in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, where the town of Maycomb refuses to change their mindset and look past the prejudiceness to see the peaceful nature of two particular citizens, Atticus and Tom Robinson. These two characters in the novel are only trying to make their town a better place by having a sympathetic nature, which in turn causes

Students need to know the choices that you make not only portray how people view you, but those decisions also decide who you are as an individual. The Decisions you make influence the way people view you as a person. As depicted in To Kill A Mockingbird when Atticus chooses to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. In the novel, Scout was in the schoolyard when Cecil Jacobs proclaimed Atticus as a disgrace to the county, “Cecil Jacobs made me forget.

Argumentative Essay “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win”. Atticus Finch decided to defend Tom Robinson when he was accused of raping a white woman. I would’ve done the same thing as Atticus because I believe that back then it wasn’t a very fair world. As soon as a white person blamed a black person Police or the Judge would automatically take the word or the white person.