ipl-logo

What Does Miss Maudie Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

763 Words4 Pages

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are a few “blossoms”, as well as beautiful flowers that are introduced. Flowers are important symbols that are compared to the feisty, feminine females that were brought into the novel.
As Miss Maudie had said to Jem, “Always wanted a smaller house, Jem Finch. Gives me more yard. I’ll have more room for my azaleas now!” (pg. 97), Miss Maudie Atkinson thinks about her azaleas and more space for them to possibly “breathe”. She doesn’t seem to care for her own pleasures and comforts as most people do, but thinks about her azaleas more. Miss Maudie seems to care for her flowers almost as gracefully and gently as she probably would be with small children. Scout had observed Miss Maudie …show more content…

In the book during the trial, Mayella refers to herself as nineteen-and-a-half. This means that mentally, Mayella may think of herself as younger than she really is, possibly under the age of ten, but physically she’s mature. The correlation between Mayella and her geraniums is a connection not made by coincidence. Mrs. Dubose was also brought to the novel for a short amount of time, but she had a lot of details to talk about, too. In the novel, it said: “Mrs. Dubose would hound Jem for a while on her favorite subjects, her camellias...” (pg. 144). The quote says that Mrs. Dubose had favorite things and that one of those ideals were her camellias, or her Snow-on-the-Mountains. After Jem had ruined Mrs. Dubose’s camellias, her punishment was given to Jem. One day she said to him: “ Thought you could kill my Snow-on-the-Mountain, did you? Well, Jessie says the top’s growing back out. Next time you’ll know how to do it right, won’t you? You’ll put it up by the roots, won’t you?” (pg. ?). Camellias are symbols of longevity, or long life, and divinity. A little while after Jem destroyed her flowers, Mrs. Dubose’s helper, Jessie, had said that they were growing back, basically saying that those flowers were strong and that they’d live long. In the novel, Harper Lee uses this flower to represent Mrs. Dubose’s sickly state, but she let the flowers live, while Mrs. Dubose passes and fades away in her condition. The comparison between them though, is the fact that they both had lived long lives and are both very

Show More
Related

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Chapter 1 Summary

    1824 Words  | 8 Pages

    Chapters 1-3 1. Atticus Finch – Atticus Finch is the father of Jem and Scout. He is a lawyer and widower. Jean Louise (Scout) Finch – Scout is the narrator of the story.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Maude Martha And If He Hollers Let Him Go

    889 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the African American literary tradition there are various forms of texts. After close analysis of different genres it is apparent that there is a clear tradition that connects each character and plot line. These traditions has to do with Self-discovery, self-love, self-Growth and, Adversity. Even though each piece of text we looked at involved a different kind of experience for the individual each one connected in that they all shared these traditions. Self-discovery, and growth appears especially in the novels

    Read More

  • How Does Lee Present A Coming Of Age Moment In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1231 Words  | 5 Pages

    Many people go through many harsh, different obstacles in life that morph them into the kind of people they are today. In the novel,  To Kill a Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee uses literary elements to showcase how a child grows into who they are and the contributing factors that may fall into their path and their learning experiences. Lee uses the scene where Jem destroys the flowers of Mrs. Dubose to portray a coming of age moment. He does this because she is racist and constantly nags at them about their father. His punishment is to read to her everyday for a month.

    Read More

  • How Is Miss Maudie Presented In To Kill A Mockingbird

    802 Words  | 4 Pages

    A chameleon blends into its surroundings, just like Miss Maudie Atkinson in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Scout, a young six-year-old girl, and Jem, her older brother, are living in Maycomb County during the Great Depression. Atticus, Scout’s father who is a well-respected lawyer, is defending a black person named Tom Robinson. The negro is charged with rape accusations from whites. Scout and her family receive a lot of negative comments about this trial.

    Read More

  • How Does Miss Maudie Occur In To Kill A Mockingbird

    567 Words  | 3 Pages

    1) Miss Maudie says she has “no business with the court this morning.” She does not feel compelled to watch the proceedings because she is aware of the injustice Tom Robinson will receive due to the prejudice the majority of Maycomb harbor against the black population. In response to Dill’s question about the reasoning behind her decision, she says “‘t’s morbid, watching a poor devil on trial for his life. Look at all those folks, it’s like a Roman carnival.” Miss Maudie’s words clearly portray her thoughts on the trial.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Maturing In To Kill A Mockingbird

    520 Words  | 3 Pages

    A piece of evidence supporting this is “In the corner of the room was a brass bed bed, and in the bed was Mrs. Dubose. I wondered if Jem’s activities had put her there, and for a moment I felt sorry for her.” (Lee 121-122) This shows that Jem has sympathy for Mrs. Dubose and she can understand how her situation isn’t ideal in the slightest. At first Jem and Scout were not opposed but definitely not happy to read to Mrs. Dubose.

    Read More

  • How Does Hurston Use Nature As A Metaphor In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1081 Words  | 5 Pages

    3. Explore how Hurston uses elements of nature as a metaphor for Janie's life. 
 Hurston shames us immodestly with grotesque glimpses of our protagonist, Janie, whose life delicates through painful metaphors within the terrestrial veils of her world. They flutter and furiate like a beating heart, gasping in the polluted industry of sentience. In Their Eyes Were Watching God this chivalry of language erotosizes the ideas that human existence can translate into forms of seemingly ethereal aesthetics.

    Read More

  • Radley House Symbolism

    870 Words  | 4 Pages

    Not only did the white camellia represent Mrs. Dubose’s feelings, but also Jem’s. Jem could now feel free of debt. He had read to her every day for 5 weeks (except on Sundays), and now, she has passed away. Jem no longer has to feel remorse and regret, but freedom that everything is right

    Read More

  • Who Is Miss Maudie Exceptional In To Kill A Mockingbird

    759 Words  | 4 Pages

    While most people probably would not have let Scout and Jem take the snow from their yard Miss Maudie does not object. She asks what they want it for but does not in any part of that event act rudely and tell the children to keep out of her yard and not touch her snow. “She loved everything that grew in God’s earth, even the weeds.” (5) Over all Miss Maudie always attempts to act out of kindness to everything that

    Read More

  • A Raisin In The Sun Mama Quotes Analysis

    482 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Mama seeing the make-down bed as Travid has left it: Lord have mercy, look at that poor bed. Bless his heart-he tries, don’t he? She moves to the bed Travis has sloppily made up.” (148) In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, a family struggles to achieve the American Dream.

    Read More

  • What Does Maudie Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

    848 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lee’s usage of the azalea show readers Maudie 's compassionate and understanding personality, while the white camellias to were used to show Mrs. Dubose 's innocence and discriminatory

    Read More

  • Harper Lee's Childhood

    788 Words  | 4 Pages

    In other words this means that jem would read to Mrs. Dubose for about 20 min every couple of days. The author makes this comparison because it shows that jem had matured and was no longer afraid of Mrs. Dubose. To Emphasize this connects back because they doth show that jem was more childish in the begingji and toward the end he was more mature. To kill a Mockingbird shaped and influenced me by helping me put myself in someone else 's shoes. For instance, The text t states “ You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”(lee 39).

    Read More

  • Examples Of Red Geraniums In To Kill A Mockingbird

    436 Words  | 2 Pages

    In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Mayella Ewell’s red geraniums to construe that she is impossibly close to being a normal girl, but is held back by her family name and the conditions in which she lives. To begin, Scout describes the Ewell residence, including a corner of the yard, which contains “six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums” (Lee 228). These stunning red geraniums are cogent with describing Mayella’s situation: living in terrible conditions within a toxic family environment. She is exactly like her red geraniums due to the fact that she is a beautiful, wonderful girl who, unfortunately, can never be normal in the grand scheme of things. She is a Ewell, an outcast, a disgrace, and she will always be

    Read More

  • Tom Robinson Case Analysis

    1102 Words  | 5 Pages

    There are many times in life where a person’s actions, while dishonest, will not have a large effect on the lives of other people and can therefore be considered insignificant. However, this is not the case regarding Mayella Ewell, a young girl who lied during the testimony of her own rape case, leading to the wrongful conviction of the defendant, Tom Robinson. The following arguments will explain why Mayella should be held fully and solely responsible for her actions regarding the Tom Robinson case.

    Read More

  • The Use Of Symbols In Ulysses By James Joyce

    740 Words  | 3 Pages

    Joyce once said: "I 've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that 's the only way of insuring one 's immortality." And it is true, the book is full of symbols and images, some of them are not very clear so they have different interpretations. In chapter five, Joyce makes references to different symbols:1 “Sleeping sickness in the air” (Joyce, 2010: 63) Like the lotus flowers in Ulysses, which produces narcotic effects on Ulysses, Bloom talks about different types of flowers, and he ends with this commentary, making a clear reference to the lotus flowers. 1.

    Read More

More about What Does Miss Maudie Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

Open Document