Themes/symbolism (To Kill A Mockingbird)

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To Kill A Mockingbird **note, this is not my work, but a compilation of works found on this site.

Symbolism

Cemented Tree hole – broken relationships

Mockingbird – innocence

Mad dog – prejudice

Snow – innocence

Fire – beginning of reality & evil

Tom Robinson – prejudice/racism

Mrs Dubose – courage

Boo Radley – misjudged

The Mockingbird

Children are warned that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird as it does nothing to harm anyone, only sings

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. ... That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Idea first introduced in p96, suggesting that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because they are innocent and only make music to please us

Perhaps this tells us that typical Maycomb prejudice attitudes are unfair and sinful because like mockingbirds, they are completley innocent

"It's a sin to kill a mockingbird" is the most famous quotation from the novel. Mockingbirds do nothing wrong - they are innocent so they should not be killed (shot).

Atticus Finch

Could be Atticus as he gets threats for defending Tom - helped a black person - when it wasn't acceptable back then.

The one family in Maycomb that rejects the prejudiced attitudes all around them are the "Finches"

Tom Robinson and Boo Radley

Could be Tom Robinson as he's convicted for helping a girl and ends up being shot and given a biased (or unfair) trial.

"He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds"

Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are both gentle people who have done no harm to anyone else, yet are condemned. They should be looked after, yet people with false courage and shallow pride try and shoot them down, like children do with mockingbirds

Tom and Boo are both persecuted

Mr Underwood writes that Tom's death was "the sensless slaughter of songbirds"

Poverty

Walter Cunningham has no lunch and when the teacher asks if he forgot it is shown that he is to poor to have lunch and hiding this fact the teacher offers him money to buy lunch saying he can pay her back tomorrow not knowing that he would not be able to.

Walter also has hookworms from walking bare foot because he cannot afford shoes and it is said that he has never seen three quarters together at the same time.

Morality and Ethics Justice

Theoretically, American Negroes have had equal rights lawfully since 1865 (end of the Civil War) however they do not necessarily receive equal justice

The courts verdict against Tom Robinson displays this

Atticus believes the law is satisfactory and it can function, however justice cannot exist until attitudes change and people apply the law justfully.

"In our courts all men are created equal"

Justice is killed when people's personal prejudices are followed without accounting for the real evidence presented

Human Responsibility

Do what's right

"We're paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple.”

Atticus thinks that everyone deserves a fair trial. Maycomb thinks that only white people do. Scout thinks that her father is right. Maycomb thinks that her father is wrong

Good can Exist within Evil

Mr Underwood

Mr Dolphous Raymond

Miss Maudie when her house caught on fire

The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is the book’s exploration of the moral nature of human beings—that is, whether people are essentially good or essentially evil.

The novel approaches this question by dramatizing Scout and Jem’s transition from a perspective of childhood innocence, in which they assume that people are good because they have never seen evil, to a more adult perspective, in which they have confronted evil and must incorporate it into their understanding of the world. As a result of this portrayal of the transition from innocence to experience, one of the book’s important subthemes involves the threat that hatred, prejudice, and ignorance pose to the innocent: people such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are not prepared for the evil that they encounter, and, as a result, they are destroyed.

Prejudice Gender inequality Women like Miss Maudie weren't allowed on the jury because they were female

Class prejudice

Aunt Alexandra believes that the Finch family are the most superior of the families in Maycomb (they are part of the local white aristocracy).

"a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak, a Mean Streak, a Funny Streak."

The black people of Maycomb county are seen as the lowest class system. But since the abolition of slavery, the boundaries between them and the lowest white class is not as clear.

The Ewells are considered 'White Trash' because they are poor and uneducated. They are the lowest class of white people, but even they look down upon the black people.

Anti-racism attitudes

Atticus refers to Maycomb's racist attitude to a 'disease'.

Jem does not agree that the jury can charge an innocent man just because he is not white.

"I don't care one speck. It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do 'em that way."

Hypocrisy

Townspeople do not realise their own hypocrisy

Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle tea depicts this. The group sympathises with the poor Mruna tribe in Africa, yet condemns the Negroes in their own town

"Hypocrites, Mrs Perkins, born hypocrites....At least we don't have that sin on our shoulders"

Scout sees the hypocrisy of her teacher who opposes Hitler but thinks it is right to persecute Tom Robinson.

"Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about the folks right at home-?

Racism

Scout's cousin Francis claims that Atticus is "ruining the family" by defending Tom Robinson.

"it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover"

The Sheriff "did not have the heart to put (Boo Radley) in the jail alongside Negoes".

Mrs Dubose said to the children that Atticus was not better than "the niggers and trash he work for!".

"You arn't really a nigger lover then are you" - Scout

"Whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, he is trash.”

"I want to know why you bringin' white chillun to nigger church" Lula, Calpurnia's friend

"Cry about the hell white people give coloured folk, without even stopping to think that they're people, too."

"that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings..."

Economic Discrimination

There is deep hatred and fear between Whites and Negroes

"Negroes worshipped in it on Sundays and white men gambled in it on weekdays."

The lynch mob is ready to kill and almost succeeds

Bob Ewell's hatred of Atticus nearly results in the death of Jem and Scout

Atticus does not want Jem and Scout to admire violence, despite having to use his gun once

Dolphus Raymond describes 'the simple hell people give other people'

Prejudice against individuals

Not just racial prejudice but the rigid codes of behaviour that people impose on one another

This behaviour is depicted as normality

Non conformers are persecuted e.g. Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond, Maudie Atkinson

Boo Radley

Boo Radley is the main victim of prejudice of this type. The town always talk about him as an evil person. Even children run past the Radley house in fear and they think that any food from their trees are poison.

"Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his

tracks"

Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson is found guilty although his prosecuters lied, because he felt sorry for a white girl. This was unacceptable behaviour of a Negro

"Mr Finch, if you was a nigger like me, you'd be scared, too."

"I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!"

Dolphus Raymond

Dolphus Raymond is seen as an oddity in the town as he is white yet chooses to live amongst Negroes. He is sensitive and loathes a segragational society

Dolphus Raymond is viewed as a bad person because he is a white man who married a black woman. His children and himself are nicknamed 'half' and are treated as badly as the black people.

Black representation

The only representative of black prejudice is Lula, but the church tells her to control her behaviour (seen as not normal)

The blacks resent Tom's conviction, yet expect is as they have been brought up as second class citizens.

BIGOTRY=ANOTHER WORD FOR PREJUDICE

Loneliness Mayella Ewell

Mayella Ewell is left to bring up her siblings virtually alone. She feels unloved by everybody and her only company for a while is Tom Robinson. She plants bright flowers to help her add a bit of colour to her dull life.

"It came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world"

Dill

Dill is rejected by his parents and thus is passed around from relative to relative. He really enjoys the company of Jem and Scout while he is staying in Mayomb.

Tom Robinson

Tom is completely isolated while he is in prison after being accused of rape by Mayella Ewell. Many people support Tom and his family while he is imprisoned.

Boo Radley

Boo Radley is isolated from the people of Maycomb because of mean gossip. He watches the world go by through his window, especially the Finch children.

Family Tradition in Maycomb

Same families have lived in Maycomb for nearly 200 years

This means people believe certain families hold certain characteristics e.g. a Cunningham can always be trusted or a Ewell is always dishonest

This leads to social division

"a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak, a Mean Streak, a Funny Streak."

Social Division

People are taught to mix with the 'right' kind of people - Aunt Alexandra believes this particularly

Atticus despises social classification and prefers to judge people on their own personal merit

Cunninghams

The Cunninghams contrast the Ewells

Mr Cunningham makes the lynch mob leave the jail

Cunninghams never borrow what they cannot return

Scout makes Mr Cunningham realise that she is treating him as an individual and this breaks up the lynch mob

Thanks to another Cunnigham, the jury is delayed at trial and Miss Maudie and Atticus believe this gives optimism for the future of society

Finch family

Atticus has a close relationship with both Jem and Scout

He and Calpurnia both instill good values into them - this contrasts with the Ewells

Childhood innocence

Children's minds are unprejudiced at first - child's mind & approach to the telling of the novel shows adults are not always right

When Boo Radley kills Mr Ewell to protect the children, Heck Tate decides to blame the incident solely on Mr Ewell himself (saying he fell on his own knife). This was to protect Boo Radley.

“They've done it before and they'll do it again and when they do it -- seems that only the children weep. Good night.”

"Children...can spot an evasion quicker than adults"

“I ain’t cynical, Miss Alexandra. Tellin’ the truth’s not cynical, is it?”

Scout

The story is narrated through Scouts eyes

Scouts incomprehension adds an element of humour

The way Scout talked to Mr Cunningham at the jail ended up disarming and dispersing the mob. She did not realise that the mob was there to hurt Tom and her father, so her innocence saved them both.

Scout is curious about the way Walter Cunningham eats (with syrup) because she does not understand the social class systems (and different peoples' ways of life) which adults are aware of. She unintentionally insults Walter and makes him feel self-concious.

Still very young - doesn't understand the significance of Boo's gifts, or why Atticus wouldn't boast about his talent with guns etc

Doesn't always understand situations - Ms Maudie helps her to understand Boo - that there might be another side to him

Tom Robinson Tom Robinson himself is the most innocent person throughout the novel, it would seem. He never committed the crime against Mayella.

Loss of innocence

Childhood innocence dies as Scout, Jem and Dill realise the adult world is a cruel, unjust place to live.

In the three years covered by To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem grow up. At the start of the book they are innocents, with an uncomplicated sense of what's good (Atticus, the people of Maycomb) and what's evil (Boo Radley). By the end of the book, the children have lost their innocence and gained a more complex understanding of the world, in which bad and good are present and visible in almost everyone.

As the children grow into the adult world, though, they don't just accept what they see. They question what doesn't make sense to them—prejudice, hatred, and violence.

So while To Kill a Mockingbird shows three children as they lose their innocence, it also uses their innocence to look freshly at the world of Maycomb and criticize its flaws.

Growth/learning Education

"We don't write in the first grade we print"

Shows the education system is rigid and therefore ill fitting for some children.

"You tell him I'll try and take over from here and try to undo the damage"

Calpurnia, the black maid. is the person who taught Scout how to read

"If he didnt teach you then who did?" - Miss Caroline

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”

"Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts"

"Your father doesn't know how to teach."

Growing up Jem

Moody, withdrawn, doesn't want to play with Scout as much, accuses her of being too much like a girl,

Reaction to the cemented knot-hole

Sees another side to Boo - the folded and mended pants - becomes moody and withdrawn

"I cant help it if Mister Jem's growing up" - Calpurnia

"Atticus is a gentleman just like me"- Jem

Jem matures a lot physically and mentally in the novel. He is most affected by the results of the trial and changes dramatically after Tom Robinson's death.

"Jem had acquired an alien set of values and was trying to impose them on me"

Scout

Transition from home life to school life

Struggles to understand the changes in her brother

"I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse...at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley"

Learning

Jem

Jem learns the truth about society

Jem grasps things long before Scout does - the reader can piece together bits of the novel before Scout does, adding depth

Mrs Dubose's camellias - shows that even though he makes mistakes, he learns great lessons from them - e.g., courage and empathy and doing the right thing

Scout

Scout learns about Boo and racism

Learns about respect from Calpurnia - eg Walter

Learns that it is important to understand things from another person's perspective - eg Burris, Ms Caroline

Learns about the dangers of religion and about her father's character

Learns how to walk away from a fight - Cecil Jacob

Overhears her father's conversation with Uncle Jack after she hits Francis - learns what he expects of her and how proud he is of her

Struggles to understand why Atticus is defending Tom Robinson - learns that sometimes it is important to do the right thing even if it means they will hear 'some ugly talk about it at school'. Author hints at a loss of innocence here.

Scout learns the most from Atticus and the events of three years in Maycomb. By the end of the novel she learns to accept people for who they are and not to be judgmental.

Empathy/Understanding Scout

Scout looks at Maycomb from Boo Radley's POV at the end of the novel: "Atiticus 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"

"I had never seen out neighbourhood from this angle"

Mr Cunningham

Mr Cunningham learns from Scout's innocence (outside of the jail) and disperses the mob from lynching Tom Robinson. He now understands that his potential actions are evil and that you should not persecute someone without evidence (just because of their skin colour).

Understanding

Atticus teaches most people that you can only get rid of prejudice and misunderstanding by seeing things from another viewpoint: "to climb into his skin and walk around in it".

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Jem and Scout become much more understanding and tolerant of people's different attitudes and personalities.

"Jem, she's old and ill. You can't hold her responsible for her

actions."

“I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.”

"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."

Dolphus Raymond is discovered by the children to be a very kind person, despite his false reputation.

They understand Calpurnia much more, especially after visiting the black church.

"That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me."

Mrs Dubose's attitude towards the children and the black community.

Jem begins to understand the significance of the presents in the tree - they mean something to someone - they are special

"I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside"

"Climbing into someone else's skin" - Atticus

Parenting Bad parenting

"You goddamn whore, I'll kill ya"

"like the playhouse of an insane child"

"Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothin'!"

"His curtness stung me."

"a little bantam cock of a man"

Good Parenting

"If this thing's hushed up it'll be a simple denial to Jem of the way I've tried to raise him."

"Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny"

"if I didn't I couldn't hold my head up in the town"

"Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets."

Courage Children

Scout with the Cunningham mob -even if she didn't know it

Scout shows courage when not retaliating to the taunts of her friends when they call Atticus names

Jem goes back to the Radley lot to get his trousers back.

Dill escapes from his new stepfather to return back to Maycomb.

Scout and Jem tolerate the insults thrown at them

Courage used to overcome childish fears like running past the Radley place

"You just hold your head high and keep those fists down" - Atticus

"I ain't going, was his steady answer to Atticus's threats, requests" - Scout

Men

Atticus' physical courage in facing the mad dog

“It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.”

Atticus has the courage to defend Tom Robinson, which he knows will end in failure

“Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”

"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win"

Defending Tom Robinson (knowing he & his family would be ostracized)

Tom tries to escape from prison

Mr Cunningham disperses the lynch mob at the county jail.

Bob Ewell shows no courage, he chooses to strike in the dark, rather than face them in daylight

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand."

Boo Radley shows courage rescuing the children

Mrs Dubose

Mrs Dubose attempts to rid herself of her drug addiction even though she knows she will die, Atticus calls her "the bravest person" he knows.

"I wanted you to see what real courage is....According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew."