Symbolism In To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird To kill a mockingbird is to destroy the concept of innocence. Mockingbirds are a prominent symbol in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. At the beginning of the story Miss Maudie explains to Scout that “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (90). Just as mockingbirds are seen as harmless, innocent creatures, characters throughout the novel can be identified as mockingbirds as well. These characters have been destroyed or injured due to the evil inflicted upon them. The most obvious example of a mockingbird character

Boo does nothing, but sit inside his house and watch the neighborhood his entire life. Inside of a tree outside his house, he would hide trinket and toys for Jem and Scout when they walk to and from school. Despite the superstition associated with him and his family, Boo had never done a cruel thing to anyone. You could even compare his giving toys to the children, to the harmless singing of the mockingbird. At the climax of the story, Boo saves the children from a violent attack. Bob Ewell seeked revenge on Atticus, so he decided to go for the kids and kill them. The only one ending up dead, was himself. Boo Radley had heard the commotion and attacked and killed Bob. When discussing what would be done of the matter, Mr. Tate declines Atticus’s urges to follow the law and charge Boo with the murder of Bob Ewell. He explains to Atticus that “...taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight-to me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man it’d be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch” (276). Charging Boo for the murder of Bob would be pointless and cruel. Boo’s only desire is to stay inside his home, and forcing him out into the eyes of the public would be ridiculously cruel. No good would come of it, and it would only cause him

Mayella was raised by trashy, dirty relatives and tries to the best of her ability to be a decent person, much unlike Bob Ewell and the rest of her family. Scout notices this when she walks up to the witness stand. “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of geraniums in the Ewell yard” (179). Even at home, Mayella is different than the rest of the Ewells. She could be described as a decent, clean, gentle young lady. The Ewell’s house is extremely rundown and torn up, but “Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they had belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson, had Miss Maudie deigned to permit a geranium on her premises. People said that they were Mayella Ewell’s” (170-171). The likely reason that Mayella lies about what happened between her and Tom is because of her fear of her father. Based on the evidence that Atticus brings up, Mayella’s father beats her. If Mayella admitted to the jury that her father had beaten her, then she would have had to face her violent father again and that would probably not have ended well for her, or anyone else involved. Mayella’s father’s evil actions and her negative lifestyle have caused her innocence to deteriorate. As a result, Mayella has become a crue, liar