Does Boo Radley Symbolize The Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Decent Essays
The mockingbird was used as a very important symbol in this story. What exactly is a mockingbird? A mockingbird is a songbird that is mainly known for its mimicry of calls and songs. The mockingbird plays a significant role in the story as a symbol of innocence, and was even included in the title by Harper Lee. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley were characters used by Lee to symbolize the loss of innocence. Although the mockingbird played an important role in the story, the first time Lee mentioned the mockingbird was in chapter ten. In this chapter, Atticus tells the kids “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” and the message from this is that …show more content…
Boo was under house arrest because of the actions committed by Boo and his friends during his teenage years. Boo Radley was a character who was very quiet and misunderstood. However, he liked Jem and Scout and he would leave gifts in the tree for them. Even though Boo was a nice guy, his innocence was ruined when he was jailed in his house for years. He was also connected to the idea of innocence and mockingbird after the death of Bob Ewell. Sheriff Tate created the story about Ewell falling on his knife. He knew that if others knew that Boo killed Ewell then he would be brought to trial for the death and that would ruin his innocence. When Atticus explained this to Scout, Scout understood why they had to hide what Boo did and he replied by saying “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin‘ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” (Lee 276). The connection between mockingbird and innocence can be seen here because Scout compares publicizing Boo’s actions to shooting a mockingbird. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the idea of the mockingbird and loss of innocence was shown through the characters of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. For instance, Tom was an innocent character who was unfairly punished because of his race and killed for a crime that he did not commit. On the other hand, Boo Radley was a character whose innocence was ruined by his own family as they put him under house arrest and also by others who misunderstood

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    When Atticus is shooting with Tom he talks to Scout and Jem about the dangers of shooting and Atticus says, “Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” (Lee, 90). This shows how it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. This will later help us see why when you kill a mockingbird’s it's not right. And this could relate to Tom Robinson because when they later kill him you can say he was a mockingbird and was innocent of the accusation. And how he had good intentions, but was wrongfully accused of something that he did not do.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The best victims are always defenseless scapegoats. Demonstrating the innocence and downfall of a mockingbird in the novel and generating the title, To Kill a Mockingbird, is Tom Robinson. The mockingbird metaphor represents a lack of justice for the defenseless, or harming the innocent. As a result of stereotyping and discrimination, people are still killing mockingbirds today, specifically people from the Middle East. The author calls this novel To Kill a Mockingbird because people knowingly prey upon the innocent, groups of mockingbirds exist in the past as well as the present.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “ Well it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it” ( Lee 370). Scout said this when she made the connection that the killing of an innocent man is the same as killing an innocent bird that only purpose was to sing and make the world better like how Tom helped Mayella making life better for her. All that Tom did was be a kind and honest man who wanted to help a white women out of the kindness of his heart and he gets convicted for the crime of not staying in the social normality of blacks being the ones pitied by the whites. Through the killing of a wrongfully convicted man the innocence with in the kids died alongside him, Tom the black man who did no…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird A mockingbird is a type of bird that does nothing except sing and be it; it does no harm to others. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird to kill a mockingbird would be destroying innocence with the forces of evil. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the depths of the Great Depression. This was also a time of great racial segregation in the South. Atticus Finch, the town’s most notable lawyer, is called upon to defend Tom Robinson, a black man unfairly accused of raping a white man’s daughter.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the title of the book states To Kill a Mockingbird you later find out that Tom Robinson was the reason behind it. It shows that to kill a mockingbird generally translates To Kill an Innocent Person. Whereas Tom Robinson was clearly not guilty in his trial because all he did was innocently helped a young women that took advantages of him. Sadly as the mockingbird, he was killed because of nothing he did. He was targeted not for his character, but for his appearance.…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tom’s innocence towards the crime symbolizes him as the mockingbird. But the main reason Tom is a mockingbird is because of the senselessness of killing him. When he was shot in prison it was like killing a mockingbird. It created no good, prevented no evil, just like killing a mockingbird. Not only does “to kill a mockingbird is a sin”(119), represent adults and their lives, it also represents the children’s innocence being lost.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Boo also symbolized a mockingbird because he was the town scare. Everyone thought the Radleys were insane. At the end of the novel, Boo symbolized the mockingbird when the sheriff said that Mr. Ewell fell on the…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tom was innocent and was accused of rape. He was later killed by prison guards when he tried to escape. In the end, Scout believed exposing or hurting Boo to the public is like shooting a mockingbird. Bob Ewell- He represents racial prejudice and evil throughout the story. Bob accused Tom raping his daughter because he was black.…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Scout’s teacher instructs her to recite ‘WE ARE A DEMOCRACY’ (Lee 1960, p.270), this is ironic because she has just witnessed an innocent man be convicted of a crime and murdered for not believing in the appeal system. The irony in To Kill a Mockingbird, lets us stimulate the strong emotions of empathy and sadness from the context and serves as a moral lesson to us about how we should depict discrimination and injustice today from something unacceptable and how we must end it. Is it okay to let injustice and discrimination continue? As if…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that explores themes of intolerance, racism, and prejudice. These themes are often portrayed through the actions of the main characters, their interactions with others, and their experiences. Of all the seamlessly intertwined plotlines, the story of Boo Radley and the Tom Robinson trial were the most impactful on these characters. Boo Radley, a proclaimed “mockingbird”, was rumored to be an isolated criminal throughout the town of Maycomb but was really an introvert who sought to escape the evils of the world. Tom Robinson, another “mockingbird”, was a good man who was wrongly convicted of raping a white woman.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays