A Separate Peace And To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

Flowers are an ongoing symbol in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. They are used to relate to or represent many of the characters all through the novel. The use of symbolism throughout this work of fiction is essential because it gives a deeper understanding of the characters. Mayella Ewell and the red geranium, Miss Maudie and her azaleas, Miss Dubose and her camellias, and Mayella Ewell and the violet are four major uses of symbolism in the story.

In the novel A Separate Peace, the narrative shift in Gene’s perspective of the tree found on page 14 is an extremely crucial shift in the story. Gene’s initial reaction of the tree was when he was a boy attending Devon school in 1942; he saw the tree as unapproachable, daunting, and preposterous “The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple…I was damned if I’d climb it. The hell with it” (14). Gene had feared the tree like many other things in his life that year. Then as Gene returned to the Devon school as an adult several year after leaving, he returned to visit the same specific tree. However, Gene’s view on the tree changed dramatically. As an adult, when he saw the tree he described it as, “… not only stripped by the cold season, it seemed weary with age, enfeebled, dry” (14). The tree had lost its daunting nature and had changed in the eyes of Gene, without physically changing. The significance in this

Finding gifts in the knothole of the Radley's oak tree has helped Jem and Scout come to age. A quote that demonstrates this is “‘Don’t eat things you find, Scout.’ ‘This wasn’t on the ground, it was in a tree.’ Jem growled ‘Well it was,’ I said. ‘It was sticking in that tree yonder, the one comin from school.’ ‘Spit it out right now!’... ‘Don’t you know you’re not supposed to even touch those trees over there? You’ll get killed if you do!’”(Lee 37-38) In this quote, Lee illustrates that Jem is afraid of anything that comes from the Radleys. When Scout told Jem that she took a piece of gum from the oak tree on the Radley’s property, he became furious. Jem started scolding Scout and told her if she even touched the tree she would die. In chapter 4, Jem was frightened by anything the Radley’s offered, but things took a turn in chapter 7.

The Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence in To Kill a Mockingbird: “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.” (Lee 90). Ms. Maudie is trying to explain to the kids that it is a sin to kill something innocent. The Mockingbird does nothing harmful to them they just sing songs to the humans . There are many connecting symbols in To Kill a Mockingbird. Not only do many things in the book such as mockingbirds there are things in the book that represent these symbols. A mockingbird is innocent, keeps to itself, makes others happy much like Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Scout Finch throughout the novel.

The Mockingbird has a very deep and powerful meaning in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird. It represents peacefulness, innocence and kindness which is portrayed through the characters of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. The mockingbird's influence can also be applied to the relationships between humans. The Mockingbird is a powerful symbol that echoes a strong meaning throughout the novel.

When Harper Lee expresses her message of courage, she demonstrated courage through the selflessness of two characters by emphasizing their morality. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley symbolize mockingbirds in the sense that they are innocent but still courageous. Once Atticus the father and main character said “ I’d rather you shoot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want but remember It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(Lee 119.) Mockingbirds symbolize Innocence, Lee is displaying that Tom and Boo are the mockingbirds in this novel. When Boo puts the gifts in the tree for the kids, that showed his Innocence, then when he left his house and saved the kids that showed his courage. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, two Innocent men that no one trusts, portrays

Throughout this book, the author uses multiple techniques of symbolism to achieve a goal which is for the reader to stir up empathy for the characters. Take notice in the middle of the book, when the author mentions the main example of symbolism, which is said by Atticus while speaking to Jem. During Christmas when the Finch’s are at Finch's landing Atticus gives Jem and Scout their own air rifles. He then tells Jem, “I’d rather you shot a tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Lee, 90) Mockingbirds are innocent and only play soothing music for people. They don’t destroy gardens, only soothe us with the music they produce. So, mockingbirds are innocent and so it’s a sin to kill them because they do not do anything wrong. In short simple words, it is a sin to kill the innocent. In the courtroom, Tom who is being accused with rape, is in the hot seat while everyone is judging him without knowing the whole story. It makes things worse when he is charged guilty. This makes the reader feel empathy for him because he is being accused

Personification also contributes to the relationship by making the tree a lively component of the family instead of a passive object in the back yard. A relationship necessitates at least two parties so it is necessary that the tree be a part of the family. At the end of the poem, “the black walnut tree swings into another year” when the family decides to keep it. This shows that the family respects the tree as its own entity and presence. First, this personifies the tree as free and leisurely because swings are usually for play. It also contextualizes the tree as having a

Literary criticism is defined as an informed, written analysis and evaluation of a work of literature. An example of a literary criticism is intertextual criticism, which is a comparison of two literary works in terms of symbols, themes, characters, and other criteria. In the fictitious novels To Kill a Mockingbird and A Separate Peace, Harper Lee and John Knowles use intertextual criticism to allow the reader to associate the novel with other works and establish connections. Throughout the stories A Separate Peace and To Kill A Mockingbird, the stories contain several similarities in terms of loss of innocence, using a tree as a symbol of friendship, and using the scapegoat archetype.

The tree represents Gene’s growth in maturity and age from being a teenager who is frightened by the magnitude of the tree to an adult who looks at it as unthreatening and small. Whilst revisiting the tree as an adult, Gene utters that the tree reminds him of the enemies of childhood that, once faced again, seem insignificant (14). When Gene is reflecting upon the first time he jumped off of the tree, he states the tree “flooded [Gene] with a sensation of alarm all the

Jem and Scout had found a few items inside of the knothole in the tree on the Radley property. One day, they see that the hole has been filled with cement. Scout then asks Atticus if the tree is dying, like Mr. Radley said, and he says no. Scout continues to ask him questions when he simply replies “‘I’m sure Mr. Radley knows more about his trees than we do.’” (Lee 84). This is another example of Atticus teaching Scout morals and manners. This may have taught her that she does not always know everything that is going on. It opens up the new perspective that she must consider what other people say and do before she jumps to conclusions or judgment.

However, Tom Robinson is not the only mockingbird in the story. Boo Radley is another harmless creature who falls victim of cruelty. He is unjustly regarded as an evil person and used as the scapegoat for all the bad happenings around town. Women are afraid of him and so are children. When the sheriff decided that he would not arrest Boo Radley for killing Bob Ewell and that would present his death as an accident, Atticus asked Scout if she understood the meaning of this decision. Scout replied that she did. Her exact words were: "Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" (282). Boo here is also compared to the gentle bird and again it would be a 'sin' to punish him. The symbol of the mockingbird can be applied to Boo Radley from another point of view as well. The mockingbird has no song of its own. It just imitates other birds. Therefore it makes itself present and is seen through other birds. In the same way, Boo Radley is seen through the eyes of other people. He does not have a character of his own. What the reader knows about him is what other people say. He is believed to " dine on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, his hands were

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, symbolism is used throughout the story. The main symbol, however, is the mockingbird. It used over and over throughout the novel and it also has a literal connection to the main plot of the story. This story is about innocence being destroyed by evil. The mockingbird represents the innocence. Therefore, if you kill a mockingbird, you are destroying innocence. There are many characters that could possibly represent the mockingbird, and most of them have come in contact with some type of evil or pain in their lives.

The main message is that the situations around jem, scout, dill, and even tom Robinson destroy their innocence. The environment and drama that takes place make them see the world as it is. “Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird.”(90). I believe that the mockingbird in the quote symbolizes innocence. Jem is confused on why killing a mockingbird is a sin and Atticus tells him that the mockingbird is pure. Just like the minds of the children. The environment around them kills the purity and innocence of the children and it relates to the mockingbird being dead.

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in history, it lasted from 1992 to 1939. It reached its lowest point in 1933, about fifteen million Americans came unemployed and nearly half the banks in the country had shut down. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the 1930’s, right about the time of the major down fall. The book is narrated by a young girl named Scout, getting to learn about their family’s experience in the Great Depression. Harper Lee uses real-life events as inspiration for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. There are connections to Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro.