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To kill a mockingbird mockingbird symbolism
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Use of Symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird
"I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, 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." This is what Atticus Finch tells his children after they are given air-rifles for Christmas. Uniquely, the title of the classic novel by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird, was taken from this passage. At first glance, one may wonder why Harper Lee decided to name her book after what seems to be a rather insignificant excerpt. After careful study, however, one begins to see that this is just another example of symbolism in the novel. Harper Lee uses symbolism rather extensively throughout this story, 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 can be seen by studying various examples from the book. This includes the actions of the children, the racist whites, and the actions of Atticus Finch.
The actions of the children in this novel certainly do have their share of symbolism. For instance, the building of a snowman by Jem and Scout one winter is very symbolic. There was not enough snow to make a snowman entirely out of snow, so Jem made a foundation out of dirt, and then covered it with what snow they had. One could interpret this in two different ways. First of all, the creation of the snowman by Jem can be seen as being symbolic of Jem trying to cover up the black man and showing that he is the same as the white man, that all human beings are virtually the same. Approval of these views is shown by Atticus when he tells Jem, "I didn't know how you were going to do it, but from now on I'll never worry about what'll become of you, son, you'll always have an idea." The fire that night that engulfed Miss Maudie Atkinson's house can be seen as the prejudice of Maycomb County, as the fire melted the snow from the snowman, and left nothing but a clump of mud. The fire depicts the prejudice people of the county saying that blacks and whites are, certainly, not the same. Another way of looking at the symbolism of the snowman would be to say that Jem's combination of mud and snow signifies miscegenation, marriage or sexual relations between persons of different races.
In real life there are many different types of people, some of them are similar
Symbolism. Why is it important in a novel? Why do authors incorporate symbols into their writing? Symbolism aids the reader in understanding what the author wants to portray. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, she writes about the racism in a small town in Alabama named Maycomb set in the 1930’s and about two children growing up and learning that their town is not as perfect as they thought. The theme topic appearance versus reality helps to get a better understanding of the symbols used in the novel and that you should not judge something by their appearance, you should judge by the reality of what it is. “As Atticus once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it.” (Scout page 77) In her novel, there are many symbols throughout the narrative that relate to the theme topic appearance versus reality. Harper Lee writes symbols into her novel, such as the snowman, Mrs. Dubose’s Camellia flower and Dolphus Raymond’s Coca-Cola bottle to help reinforce the theme topic of appearance versus reality throughout the novel.
Throughout the novel Harper Lee explores the racism, prejudice, and the innocence that occurs throughout the book. She shows these themes through her strong use of symbolism throughout the story. Even though To Kill a Mockingbird was written in the 1960’s, the powerful symbolism this book contributes to our society is tremendous. This attribute is racist (Smykowski). To Kill a Mockingbird reveals a story about Scout’s childhood growing up with her father and brother, in an accustomed southern town that believed heavily in ethnological morals (Shackelford).
According to Mary Griffith, author of the book The Homeschooling Handbook, the concept of homeschooling is nothing new to society. It is only in the past 150 years that public school system as we know it came into effect (Griffith, 1999). Prior to that, “…the family was the basis for social life…the home was where children learned what was necessary to function in their community” (1999). By the mid-1970s, there were barely any people practicing homeschooling (Ray, 2004). However, over the past twenty years there has been a resurgence in people choosing homeschooling (2004). There has been a 500 percent increase in homeschooling from the 1990-1991 school year to the 2002-2003 school year (2004). The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) estimates “that between 1.7 and 2.1 million students were being homeschooled in the U.S., in every grade level from kindergarten through twelfth grade…Indications are that the growth rate is between 7 percent and 15 percent per year ” (2004).
“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (p.90) Miss. Maudie, one of the main protagonists in To Kill a Mockingbird, warns the young girl Scout that mockingbirds should not to be killed or hunted down because they represent those who are kind and innocent. So, on a broader spectrum, the term “to kill a mockingbird” symbolizes cruel and improper behavior towards people with good hearts and intentions. In the town of Maycomb, unethical behaviors, such as prejudice and gossip, are most commonly used against the “mockingbirds”. Three of those “mockingbirds” that are featured in this novel are Arthur “Boo” Radley, Tom Robinson, and Atticus Finch. Due to the depiction of the mockingbird symbol in the novel, the reader understands the consequences that immoral attitudes have towards those who are innocent and kindhearted.
A symbol in literature is an object that stands for a word, cause, belief, or another object. A metaphor is a figure of speech where a word of phrase is applied to something but it should not be taken literally. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the mockingbird symbolizes innocence. The mockingbird is innocent, singing for people to hear its music. In the book Atticus says to Scout, “Remember it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.” When Scout asked Miss Maudie about it, Miss Maudie tells her, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… but they sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Killing something so innocent would be a sin because it had never done anything to hurt you.
Hegener, H. (1997). Homeschooling Online [Electronic Version]. Home Education Magazine, Novermber-December. Retrieved May 3, 2004 from http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/issue_index.html.
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.
Home school education has been growing exponentially in America over the past couple decades as more and more families are deciding to cultivate their kids’ educations in a more personalized fashion. Parents choose to home school their children for a large variety of reasons. The most popular reasons for this decision include dissatisfaction with the current education system, religious freedom in education, and personalized education for certain skillsets. Home school educations grew in popularity as the Internet became more prevalent in culture. The Internet allowed parents to access more educational materials from home and communicate with other home school families across the globe. Home school has had an impact on the identities of students
Ray, Brian D. “Home Schooling: The Ameliorator of Negative Influences on Learning?” PJE: Peabody Journal of Education. 2000 Academic search premier. EBSCOhost. Middlesex County College Library, Edison. 15 Apr. 2003
Kaseman, L. & Kaseman, S. (1997, November/December). Taking charge: hanging on to what makes homeschooling distinctive. Home Education Magazine. Retrieved April 28, 2002 from Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Violence has become the growing problem in the United States today. School violence is the se...
Bilingual Education has been an increasingly controversial subject throughout education systems in America. The growing numbers of bilingual students in the country have provided much debate regarding the most effective way of instructing these students in traditional American schools. Perhaps one of the newest and fastest growing methods throughout the country has become "transitional bilingual education," a program which integrates the English language into these classroom by adding more English instruction throughout the course of the lesson. It has proved to be both beneficial to the students engaged into these programs as well as the teachers who administer it.
Our first ever “Refer a Friend” contest run in partnership with Hagerty Canada, was a huge success. The lucky grand prize winner, Kimberly Brown-Petitti, whose name was drawn from over 200 entrants and had the opportunity to attend the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona earlier this month, billed it “a trip of a lifetime.”
In the past decade homeschooling has grown in America much more than we could estimate, 1.5 million students are now learning at home, that’s a 75% increase from 1999, Parents have become more unsatisfied by the public schooling systems and its effects on their children concerned that their children could be exposed to violence, bullying or even drugs.