Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, explores concepts such as social inequality, racism, morals and values, coming of age, and perspective. The story follows two children, Jem and Scout, as they experience being raised in Maycomb County, Alabama. So why did Lee choose the title: To Kill a Mockingbird?
Atticus Finch, Jem and Scout’s father, raises his children with integrity and turns every scenario into a teaching moment. As a man of wisdom, he strives to instill his knowledge into them. The first reference to the book’s title comes from Atticus in chapter ten, when Jem and Scout receive air-rifles. Atticus says: “‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,’” (Lee 119). Through Miss Maudie, Lee writes that mockingbirds “‘don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up peoples
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Tom was charged with the rape of a local young girl, Mayella Ewell. Although he did not commit the crime, the town’s racist mindset led them to side with the guilty party, Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson was shot and killed, so in a sense, Maycomb County killed a mockingbird. The second is Boo Radley, a mysterious man that never shows his face, causing him to fall victim to the imaginations of Maycomb residents, especially those of children like Jem and Scout. Although Jem and Scout have their theories and alleged stories about Boo, he ends up saving their lives in a plot twist. However, in the act, he killed Bob Ewell. Due to the fact that he was only trying to protect Jem and Scout, Sheriff Heck Tate decides not to report Boo in the incident, saying Ewell fell on his own knife. Scout understands exactly why he does this. When discussing why he wouldn’t be put on trial, Scout says: “‘Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?’” (Lee
That's a sin.” Mr. Tate agree’s that coming forth about who really killed Mr. Ewell would do a great disjustice to Boo who just wants to stay out the limelight. Boo risked being in the center of attention to help Jem and Scout, which in my opinion, is one of the greatest acts of courage seen in the
As a child, have you ever wondered how it would feel to be able to fly like a bird? Many people do not know what a typical bird does during their day to day life. But a Mockingbird is not any typical type of bird. “Kill all the bluejays you want, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (117). The previous quote is a world widely known quote; stated by Atticus; a character from the book To Kill a Mockingbird; authored by Harper Lee.
This idea first appears when Atticus Finch is talking to his children, Jeremy (Jem) and Jean Louise (Scout) Finch. He says that they should not shoot at mockingbirds, and the children go to Miss Maudie for clarification. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing
To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a coming-of-age story. This story is about the Finch family living in the unjust times of the 1930s in their hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. The main character Scout and her brother Jem are children who grow very much in the three years of their lives in this book. Atticus,the father of the Finch family is a lawyer that is different than everyone else in society and tries to view everyone. Because of Atticus’s morality he does something any other white lawyer wouldn’t do.
For the entirety of the novel, Boo chose to be a recluse, staying in his house. Boo had always been looking out for Scout and Jem, whether it was when he sewed up Jem’s pants for him, or when he was giving them gifts through the knot in the treehole. When Bob Ewell attacked and tried to kill Jem and Scout, Boo was the person there to protect them. Boo Radley is a mockingbird because he only does things for the benefit of Scout and Jem. When talking about what happened to Ewell, Heck Tate says, “‘...taking the one man [Boo] 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”[370].
In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Atticus Finch is Jem and Scout’s father. He is stern but fair with his children. He is a great father to the children and we can tell this from the life lessons he teaches them. These life lessons include the teachings of compromise to teach his children how to empathize with others around them. Atticus is the least affected by the deep seated racist prejudice throughout the novel, he speaks and acts for what he believes in.
Tom is clearly innocent, but because of racial prejudice during the Great Depression, he is proven guilty. Also, Boo Radley, the neighbor of Jem and Scout, kills Bob Ewell, the man who tried to attack Jem and Scout. Even though he killed someone, he is never taken to court. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the mockingbird to symbolize innocence and all that is good in the small southern town of Maycomb. Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama on April 26, 1926.
The title is called To Kill a Mockingbird, because in the novel, ‘’it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’’. They don’t do any harm, and only please us with their songs. Harper Lee uses the theme of ‘’mockingbirds’’ throughout the novel. The two characters that best represent mockingbirds are Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, because they don’t do any harm to their society, just like mockingbirds. Boo Radley is a mockingbird, because
Atticus states that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” How is this idea explored in Chapters 2 and 3? Atticus makes a statement which resonates through a vast majority of the novel. It can be clearly represented in chapters 2 and 3, when Scout first goes to school and Walter Cunningham comes to dinner with the Finches. Scout shows a lack of understanding for some characters, as does her teacher, Miss Caroline.
I believe that this quote refers back to the time when Scout and Jem get new rifles for Christmas and Atticus tells Jem that it would be considered a sin if they shot a mockingbird. Mockingbirds are not predators and they will not harm anything or anyone; the only thing they do is make music with their mouths. Scout is remembering that time and comparing it to what had recently happened in her life. I think that she sees Tom Robinson and Boo Radley as the mockingbirds. Tom Robinson didn’t harm anyone, and the only thing that he did was help those who needed assistance.
In society, there are always those who are innocent and kind-hearted, but are, sadly, victimized and destroyed by the evil in others’ hearts. In her novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores the idea of persecution and prejudice against innocents using the motif of the harmless mockingbird, a symbol first coined by Atticus; his famous quote, “shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ʼem, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”, is a warning to never do wrong against respectable people. Using the stories of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, Harper Lee highlights the negative treatment “mockingbirds” receive from society and the severity of the discrimination that vulnerable members of society face on a daily basis, and comments
Meanwhile, Scout and her brother Jem are interested in seeing Boo Radley, a man who has been rumored to had murdered his own father. On the other hand, the children’s father Atticus, a lawyer, takes on the case of Tom Robinson- a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell. After Tom was declared guilty,a humiliated Bob Ewell tries to murders the Finch children for revenge, only for Boo Radley to save the children. Scout then looks at Boo, realizing to look from another person’s perspective.
To Kill A Mockingbird Literary Analysis Throughout To Kill A MockingBird, by Harper Lee there are many acts of courage. This is shown in Atticus Finch, Jem Finch, and Boo Radley. Atticus shows the most courage in the book but all three of these characters show true courage in some way, shape, or form. Boo Radley showed a lot of courage, but he was not in the storyline as much as Atticus. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, courage is defined as standing up for people and doing what’s right.
In the passage Jem and Scout walk home during the dark hours,giving Bob Ewell an opportunity to stage an attack. As Bob Ewell attacks them Boo Radley rushes in to rescue Jem and Scout. After this Scout now understands what Atticus meant it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. The killing of a mockingbird is much like killing the innocent. It is beyond a crime and worse than the most heinous atrocities.
Miss Maudie says, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to