To Kill A Mockingbird Quote Analysis

The title, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a metaphor throughout the whole book. This comes up when Jem and Scout are gifted rifles for Christmas, and Atticus told them, “‘I’d rather you shot 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.’” (Lee 119) Atticus told them that killing a mockingbird is a sin because mockingbirds are completely innocent. All they do is sing their hearts out for us. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are both two major mockingbirds throughout the story. Boo Radley lives in an old, abandoned looking house down the street from Scout and Jem. Boo got in trouble with the law when he was a teenager, and he has been inside

for over 15 years, and hasn’t come out since. Because of this people automatically make accusations, and rumors are spread about him. Scout said, “People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.

When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions.” (Lee 10) Boo Radley is portrayed basically as a bad person, incapable of doing anything good. Tom Robinson is a black man who is being accused by Bob Ewell- a white man- of raping and beating his daughter, Mayella. Tom is completely innocent in this court case, however, since he is a black man going up against a white man, the jury says he is found

guilty. During the court case, we find out how Mayella was profusely beaten on her right side, as well as having finger marks on her neck, as if someone was strangling her.

“Tom Robinson’s powerful shoulders rippled under his thin shirt. He rose to his feet and stood with his right hand on the back of his chair. He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he was standing. His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side.” (Lee 248) Since Mayella’s face is mainly beaten on her right side, that means someone would’ve most likely had to of beaten her with their left hand. However, Tom cannot use his left hand, so it would have been very unlikely for him to have beaten Mayella’s left side. And it is also utterly impossible for him to have strangled her, seeing as he can’t even move his left arm. The jury knows that the evidence Atticus gave proves Tom is innocent. However, they believe he is the one that should be punished since he’s black. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are being discriminated by the whole town. Because of Boo Radley’s past, and the rumors that go around about him, people automatically assume he is a terrible person committing these

crimes.
When Atticus says he doesn’t want his kids catching “Maycomb’s usual disease,” he means he doesn’t want them catching the disease of prejudice. Diseases can spread. And the disease of prejudice is spread through gossip. Killing a mockingbird is a sin because they are completely innocent. Making assumptions about people without knowing any basic facts beforehand is a sin, because they could be completely innocent as well.
I personally think prejudice spreads mainly from gossip. Once someone says something about another person to someone, it will spread like wildfire. It will go to person after person, and the pre-judgement will most likely get worse. It’s mostly negative things, or rumors that people spread, rarely the good things. Gossip can eventually lead to stereotypes. When stereotypes about one person are spread, it can eventually lead to stereotypes of a certain group of people. When prejudice spreads, it can be hard to stop it. The best way that I personally feel prejudice can be stopped is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. Start thinking that maybe what is said about that person isn’t completely true. Or even if it is, we don’t know the whole story, or what their side is. Start thinking, that maybe they’re going through something too. Maybe their mom just died, or their brother, or their grandfather, or their friend. Prejudice can be stopped if people start thinking about the other person’s feelings. In addition, not spreading gossip would also help stop the disease of prejudice.