Theme Of Allegories In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee uses symbolism extensively throughout To Kill a Mockingbird,, and much of it refers to the problems of racism in the South during the early twentieth century. Harper Lee's effective use of racial symbolism and allegory can be seen by studying various examples from the book, namely the actions of the children, of the racist whites, and of Atticus Finch.

Atticus gives Jem and Scout air-rifles and refuses to teach them how to use them. Atticus explains to them that they can shoot the tin cans and eventually they

To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that a reader can turn again and again, gaining new insights and knowledge into life each time. Sometimes an author uses a motif- a frequently repeated incident or idea -to get a certain theme across to the reader. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee uses motifs to clarify her messages or insights about life. Three specific motifs that Lee uses throughout the whole story are the mockingbird, courage, and walking in someone else's shoes.

In court, Tom said that the reason he helped Mayella Ewell was because he “felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em ” (Lee, 197). Feeling sorry for Mayella became his only crime. After the trial, Miss Maudie sympathized with Jem, telling him that not everyone was against Tom; in fact, people like Judge Taylor, Heck Tate, and of course Atticus were for him. When Tom was shot, most of Maycomb didn’t care, but Mr. Underwood of The Maycomb Tribune “likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children” (Lee, 241). He recognized that Tom was innocent and his death was undeserved. Sheriff Heck Tate showed empathy for Boo Radley after Mr. Ewell attacked the Finch children. He says, “To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, 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” (Lee, 276). He knew Boo wouldn’t be able to cope with the stress of being the town’s celebrity, so he decided to pretend that Mr. Ewell fell on his own knife and the children got away by themselves. Several people in Maycomb cared for each other and looked at things from another’s point of view.

This use of alliteration shows the importance of family standards which is why the letters are repeated. Lee uses alliteration when key details need to be noticed by the reader.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a multi-faceted novel which explores the principles and morals of people in the South during the 1930s. Mockingbirds are symbolic of the people that society abuse. Lee narrates the events of the novel using Scout’s voice and uses this technique to add emotional context and develop themes. Themes of racial and classist prejudice are developed by Lee to challenge the reader. These techniques are all powerful ways to alter the views of the reader.

Folks." Scout was trying to say that all people are created equal. No one, by nature, is superior to anybody else. This is a very contrary view to what most people believed at that time, especially in the South. There was prejudice between races and prejudice between families. The most obvious theme of the book is racism. Staged in the early 1930’s in southern Alabama, racism was still undeniably present. Even though the amendments which freed slaves and gave them rights were passed more than sixty years prior, the culture of the south intertwined with racism. Interracial marriages were illegal. Different races could not attend the same schools. It was the law that whites and blacks could not even be put together in the same jail cells. Looking at these things, one can only imagine the upheaval when a Negro was accused of raping a white woman: but did this stop Atticus from standing up for justice? No, it didn’t. He knew perfectly well how criticizing eyes would view the case; no matter how glaring the evidence was, the people wouldn’t accept an African American’s word over a white man’s. Atticus saw all people as equal, regardless of their skin color and he knew what was the right thing to do. He was a friend and ally to the African American community and they respected them for it. Another example is the Cunningham family. When Walter comes over for lunch, Scout criticizes him but

Mockingbirds are only here to sing their songs and to bring us joy. A Mockingbird is innocent, without fault and only here to help. “To kill a Mockingbird is a sin.”(119) This is because a Mockingbird is an animal that doesn’t cause harm and has proved to only have a pure heart. Tom Robinson is the predominant Mockingbird. “Tom’s death was like the senseless killing of songbirds.”(241) Since another word for mockingbird is a songbird, this quote is telling us that Tom is like a Mockingbird and that his death wasn’t supposed to happen. The unexpected Mockingbird is Boo Radley. “Atticus looked like he needed cheering up I ran to him and said ‘yes sir, I understand Mr. Tate was right’ he looked at me and said ‘what do you mean’ well it’d sort of be like shooting a Mockingbird.”(318) Clearly Scout is saying that if Maycome were to find out that Boo killed Bob it would probably kill him because Boo delights in being alone. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are the representation of the Mockingbird.

There is one central idea in to kill A Mockingbird, the central idea of the story is how others judged anyone different than them without having information they were prejudiced. This was divided throughout the story as 2 different characters. The first character was Boo Radley he was

Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the year of 1960, and is one of the few American classic novels awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The racism that is prevalent in many southern American towns in the 1930s is brought to life with profound imagery in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are several characters in the book, yet the true main character is the narrator's father, Atticus Finch. He is a man of great integrity and intelligence. A very heroic figure in more ways than one, Atticus possesses traits like being principled, determined, and, more importantly, he teaches others. When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird, one can see that Lee uses lots of description, dialogue, and actions to portray Atticus as a heroic individual.

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a powerful novel that explores the widespread racial discrimination in 1930’s Alabama. Throughout the novel rarely is Alabama’s racism bridged, with the exception of three main protagonists Scout Finch, her brother Jem Finch and their Father Atticus. Lee’s use of symbolism, foreshadowing and irony present the consequences of the loss of innocence and the penalties that racial prejudice can have on a community.

Harper Lee, the writer, utilizes personification inside the first couple of pages of the book. While representing the town of Maycomb, Scout, the storyteller, states, "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. " During this time, many individuals battled The Great Depression because of the collapse of the stock market; they worked very hard and eventually becoming worn out. Giving the town the human-like normal for being "drained" mirrors the human state of the town.

Boo Radley is one of the human mockingbirds in To Kill a Mockingird. people who, like the mockingbird, are innocent and harmless beings only capable of doing good (though this is not always recognized by everyone. Tom Robinson and many of the children in the novel are other examples of the human mockingbird). As Sheriff Tate had earlier explained, it would do no good for him to bring the reclusive Boo into the "limelight" of an investigation concerning Bob Ewell's death. Instead, Tate decides to call Bob's death self-inflicted in order to protect Boo. boo did a good deed for the town. Scout understands Tate's reasoning, and she applies the decision to one of Atticus' earlier warnings. It was okay to shoot blue jays, but "it was a sin to kill a

To kill a mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Themes are the subject of a talk, a piece of writing or a person's thoughts. There are many themes present in this great American classic such as courage, racism, prejudice, morality and of course coming of age. Lee communicates these themes with characters, events that unfold and the scenarios that Jem and Scout have to face.

Imagine a world where everyone with blue eyes got to give orders to everyone with brown eyes. If you're born with blue eyes, you get the good jobs, the good schools, the good houses, and all the fair trials you could want. If you have brown eyes, then you would have gotten the crappy education, house, and life. That is how life was in Maycomb, Alabama as well as the rest of the south. The central idea of To Kill a Mockingbird is recognition on how unfair people are treated based on their race.