To Kill A Mockingbird Quote Analysis

“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 is a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 94). This quote, delivered in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, introduces the mockingbird which is incorporated symbolically throughout the novel. The mockingbird, in presenting its gifts of music and beauty, is the symbol of Atticus’s practice of altruism because he believes in society’s responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable and innocent. When considering the mockingbird literally or figuratively, the symbol is quite similar in meaning. Figuratively, certain characters could be categorized as

Maycomb is a petite, sleepy town, however, the political side is vicious. Atticus selflessly decides to defend Tom, an African American, in court who was being wrongly prosecuted for rape. Despite Maycomb’s arsenal of verbal chastisement on himself and his children, continued to defend Tom. Because Tom was African-American, his rights were subconsciously removed due to racial bias. "It was just him I couldn't stand," Dill said…"That old Mr. Gilmer doin' him thataway, talking so hateful to him… It was the way he said it made me sick, plain sick… The way that man called him 'boy' all the time an' sneered at him, an' looked around at the jury every time he answered… It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do 'em that way. Hasn't anybody got any business talkin' like that—it just makes me sick." (Lee 155-165). Although the treatment was harsh, Atticus continued to defend Tom because Atticus’s virtues abide by protecting the innocent. The overwhelming negativity crowding the court case that Atticus disrupts for Tom Robinson supports Atticus’s altruism in defending the

In protecting the innocuous, one has to be capable of maintaining their own poise in the growling façade of abhorrence. This is expressed in the text when Atticus defended Tom Robinson against a mob of angry white supremacists ready to harm the two. However, he abided by his virtues lying in patience, fortitude, and courage without circumstances. The situation was described as,“We were taking a short cut across the square when four dusty cars came in from the Meridian highway, moving slowly in a line. They went around the square, passed the bank building, and stopped in front of the jail…’You know what we want,’ another man said. ‘Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.’ ‘You can turn around and go home again, Walter,’ Atticus said” (Lee pg #?) Atticus remained unwavering in his beliefs, even though the members of the mob threatened him and his family when they came after The mockingbird represents both sides of protecting the innocent; those who need assistance and those who are brave enough to defend