What Does The House Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill A Mockingbird is a classic Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee. The story tells of a family of four who lived in Maycomb County, Alabama. The father Atticus Finch has to try to defend an African American named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white girl. Atticus, Jem, Scout, Dill, and Calpurnia attempt to get through the tough times ahead. The many events that take place in the book make it a breathtaking story of racial cruelty and life in the 1930’s south. In the book, Harper Lee uses multiple craft moves including description, symbolism, and inner thinking to build a mood. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee uses the craft move of description to build a mood in the story. When Dill wants to make Boo Radley emerge from the house, the explanation of the “ low house that was once white, with a deep front porch that not long ago darkened to the color of slate grey” (on page 10), is a description of the chilling house that Boo Radley lives in. This description of the house leaves the reader with a feeling of eeriness and creepiness. These feelings build a mood in the story. …show more content…

As Dill, Jem, and Scout sneak into the Radley back yard, Scout suddenly sees the shadow and instant fear comes over her.(page seventy one) In this instance, the shadow symbolises fear and death. “ Then the roar of a shotgun shattered the neighborhood.”(page 71seventy one) This second piece of symbolism, the shotgun, represents death. The shadow builds a mood of suspense and the shotgun builds a mood of death in the air. The two objects when put together create a mood of fear by using symbolism to represent

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