Theme Of Symbolism In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the symbol of a mockingbird, representing innocence, is strung throughout the story. Set in the 1930’s, To Kill a Mockingbird of two children, Scout and Jem Finch, and their lawyer father, Atticus Finch who lived in Maycomb Alabama. The mockingbird symbol is represented in several incidents in the book, including Tom Robinson, a court case that Atticus handles, and Boo Radley, a neighbor of the Finch family. The symbol does not become apparent until later on in the book but it is connected to several events that happen throughout the story.
The first reference to the mockingbird is when Scout and Jem get air-rifles for Christmas from their uncle. When this happened, Atticus would not teach the kids to shoot for unknown reasons, but he told the children that they could …show more content…

The children did not understand, so by asking another adult neighbor they figured out that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird because they do not do anything bad for anyone, all they do is “make music for us to enjoy” (90). When the children learn this information, it is the first time we see Atticus protecting innocence, which reveals his characteristics and what kind of person he is. It also sets the theme of the book of protecting innocence, since this is the first we see of it. Shortly after Christmas, the children decided to go exploring when the neighbor’s dog, Tim Johnson started slowly walking towards them. The children got scared and returned to the house when Atticus and the town police officer were called to kill the dog because he had gone mad. As the dog got closer and closer the police officer could not shoot him so Atticus took the gun and successfully kills Tim Johnson. Atticus was called One-Shot Finch and had talent with a gun,

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