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The Significance of the Title of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The title of this novel is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and throughout the
book the word mockingbird appears several times. The mockingbird is
the most significant symbol in the novel. The motif of the story is
the innocent creature of the mockingbird. What is a mockingbird? A
mockingbird is a type of finch. It is a small plain bird and has a
beautiful song. It got its name because its beautiful sing 'mocks'
other birds.
The mockingbird idea first comes about in chapter 10,when Atticus is
telling the children how to use their shotguns. He tells them:
"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em. But remember
it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
It was very unusual for Atticus to say something like this, as he
never tells Scout or Jem that anything is a 'sin'. This makes Scout a
bit surprised and so Miss Maudie explains that it is because
mockingbirds are neither harmful nor destructive and only make nice
music for people to enjoy. Here is what she said:
"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They
don't eat up peoples 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."
In chapter 10, Tim Johnson the rabid dog is slowly walking up the road
and all the people of Maycomb are waiting for him to appear, waiting
for what is about to happen. The mockingbird idea comes up when it
says:
'The trees were still, the mockingbirds were silent, the carpenters at
Miss Maudie's house had vanished.'
I think that the mockingbirds in this situation a...
... middle of paper ...
...I think that over the course of this novel Scout comes out to be quite
clever and forever learning new morals and ways of life. By the end of
the novel she has learnt one key lesson. That she must see thing's
from other people's views. She shows this in the book in the last
chapter when she is standing on Boo Radley's front porch. Here is the
quote on what she said:
"Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until
you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the
Radley porch was enough."
Here she puts herself in Boo Radley's shoes and imagines what it must
be like for him.
My final impression of Scout is that after all what she has been
through she has become wiser and more grown up. She has learnt
important values to life and has become more caring and understanding.
To Kill A Mocking Bird is set in a small town in South America called Maycomb. Most of the town’s people of this happy town are not at all what they seem for there is a great hate for all coloured humans. At first glance many readers would wonder how the title evolved, but once you explore the text you begin to understand what the bases of Harper Lee’s message. Harper Lee has portrayed two characters as Mocking Birds. The first of these is Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is a Negro living in Maycomb who becomes notorious when he is wrongly accused of the rape of a white woman. Atticus knows that the battle will not be an easy case to win, but decides to represent Tom Robinson, as he says that he couldn’t hold his head up in town or tell the children what to do.
Also the most significant symbol in this novel is the mockingbird symbol which represents innocent people victims of a cruel society. There were two mockingbirds that were killed because one was black and the other was creepy. This was a case of injustice because two people’s lives were taken away from them because of one’s race and one being different from others. Even in a court of law some people do not get a fare trial. Only in the end when we all stand before God he will give us all a fare trial. Mockingbirds and Finches are type of song birds. Harper Lee gave the main characters’ the last name “Finch”, because the family was innocent and accepted all their neighbors.
A person's actions can greatly affect the lives of the people around them. In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus is an only parent and a role model for his kids Jem and Scout. Although his choice to oppose the communities way of life has a strong affect on his family, to Atticus doing what is right means the world to him and he's willing to let his family suffer a little for what he thinks is the greater good. Atticus's choice to live a life without prejudice and racism affects the way the community looks at and treats his family; Scout is the one who is mostly affected.
This section from the book To Kill a Mockingbird explains the title. Throughout the entire book Harper Lee talks about Boo and mentions that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird since they don't harm anyone. Boo Radley is just like the mockingbird. He is innocent and even saves them from Mr. Ewell. When Boo saves their lives by killing Mr. Ewell he shows that goodness does exist in him but it was corrupted by the evil of the outside world.
...birds are one of the main symbols. Mockingbirds are innocent they do not harm anyone but makes beautiful music. However, they get killed by people every day. There are many innocent person present in this novel; three main characters that are Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Mr. Dolphus Raymond, and they symbolize the Mockingbirds. Tom was a wrongly accused of rape, and he was brutally killed because he was black. Boo Radley did not do any harm to anyone, he was innocent, but people in the Maycomb County were thinking him as a monster which hurt him mentally. Lastly, Mr. Raymond symbolized the Mockingbird because he was innocent, however only because he thought different than others, he was looked down by the people in Maycomb County. Mockingbirds in this novel symbolized the innocent people who are getting wrongly accused and their innocence getting destroyed by evil.
The Significance of the Title To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee In this novel, the most significant symbol is the mocking bird. A mocking bird is a type of Finch: a small, discrete bird with a. beautiful song, which mocks or imitates the other birds' song. One of the most explicit references made about mocking birds is that in chapter 10. Atticus is telling Scout and Jem how to use their shotguns for the first time, he says, 'Shoot all the bluejays you.
Before the statement, she liked to assume information and had little understanding of others. During her first day of school, Scout spoke to Miss Caroline and Scout stated,”Walter’s one of the Cunninghams” (26). She just assumed that Miss Caroline understood these things about Maycomb. However, after Atticus makes the statement about understanding from another’s point of view, Scout turns into a new woman. She even finds herself understanding Boo Radley when she recalled,”Atticus was right… just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (374). Scout has started to gain the quality of understanding people from their points of
Scout was the narrator of the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" (by Harper Lee). At first she didn't know a lot about Maycomb (the town they live in), the people in the town and life. Through the book she had lots of new experiences and learned a lot. This knowledge caused significant changes in her characteristics and perspective. As the novel progressed, she has grown up. She has become a better person.
Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, many characters develop and mature in unique ways. Boo, who fears talking to others, Aunt Alexandra, who is against people of other races or social classes, and Scout, who is young and is not aware of life’s challenges, constantly suppress their emotions and personality. Their life choices and decisions that they make throughout the book, lead them to be more accepting of others and less prejudice. As the book progresses, Boo, Aunt Alexandra, and Scout learn life lessons and develop into mature adults.
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. You know Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was misperceived at first. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, but after he led Santa’s sleigh, they loved him. Misperceptions like this happen all throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. As you read the novel you see original judgments made about characters transform into new conceptions and new understandings. Some characters twist your views of them on purpose, others do it involuntarily. To Kill a Mockingbird shows this happening over and over again. All you have to do is look for it.
As the book comes to a close, readers can see just how mature and empathetic Scout has become. After Scout and Jem, Scout’s brother, are saved by Arthur “Boo” Radley, the town shut-in, Scout walks Boo home and after he walks back into her house, she turns around and just stares out at the street from Boo’s point of view instead of from her own. Her father taught her that you should
To Kill a Mockingbird, both as a novel and as a film, shows how time can change the way society views the importance of certain issues, such as racism. Because it was written during the civil rights movement, many people protested against it for conveying issues of prejudice between the north and the south. However, after time, the novel gradually became accepted. It is now a world-renowned classic, and it has won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as having made its way to the big screen. The author, Harper Lee, sets the story in a small town in Alabama. The narrator is a 9-year-old tomboy, whose father was a widowed lawyer. Herbert Mitgang wrote in the New York Times on July 13, 1960:
In the book, To Kill a Mockeningbird by Harper lee, Charles Baker Harris, also known as Dill, is one of the most important character. He’s curious, wants attention, and he can be dishonest.
The story is called “to Kill a Mockingbird”. In the story there’s one reference to killing mockingbirds which also has a reason why not to kill them: Atticus says to his children to never kill a mockingbird because its a sin. He says its a sin because the mockingbird makes music for everyone. On the other hand he says its okay to kill blue jays because they hurt society by eating from peoples yards and living in corn cribs. Atticus knows how to shoot better than anyone else, but he doesn’t keep a shotgun. This shows he’s a noble man who doesn’t believe killing a solution to anything. Atticus is a lawyer, and he was chosen to represent Tom, because he’s the only one who might be
The main symbols discussed and portrayed in the book were Tim Johnson, the Mockingbirds and Boo Radley. Tim Johnson was a neighbourhood dog who appeared down the Finch’s street one day, but looked very ill and was rabid. Calpurnia the black maid working at the Finch’s rang Atticus and he shot it. Tim Johnson could symbolize the prejudice and mob mentality of Maycomb at the time and because Atticus shot Tim this represents Atticus’s morals beliefs about stopping racism and creating equality. The Mockingbird used in the title of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is the most important symbol depicted in this novel. One day Atticus told Jem that he’d rather Jem shoot at tin cans, but he knew Jem would go after birds. He gave Jem permission to shoot all the blue jays he felt like, but it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. Jem then went to Miss Maudie to ask about what Atticus had just said, "Your father’s right," she said. "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” This conveys the loss of innocence in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and thus killing a Mockingbird is to destroy innocence. A number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr. Raymond) can be identified as Mockingbirds who have been injured or destroyed through their contact with evil. As the novel progresses, the children’s perspective towards Boo Radley matures and this replicates the development of the children. Boo Radley was once an intelligent child, only to be ruined by his cruel father is one of the most important mockingbirds as his innocence was destroyed. Luckily for Jem and Scout, Boo was merely a source of childhood superstition often leaving presents for them. Despite the pain that Boo