Literature, one of the greatest ways for authors to express emotions, past experiences, and life lessons. Most authors use symbols in their writing to provide a deeper meaning for their readers. Harper Lee an author, famous for her book, To Kill a Mockingbird uses symbols to display to the readers morals aside the actual context of the book. Throughout the book, she constantly talks about things or incidents which at first may just seem irrelevant but with further investigation they reflect upon the problems or messages that the author wants to display. Some major symbols that stick out are, the knothole that Scout and Jem encounter, the crazy dog that Atticus killed, and the mockingbird. Harper Lee uses symbolism in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird
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The mockingbird represent innocence and in this case Tom Robinson. The main character, Scout brings up the topic with Miss.Maudie and she says, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.-that’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90). Miss.Maudie goes on to tell Scout about how they are one of creatures that do not do anything wrong, so killing something so pure is injustice. In the novel, Tom Robinson is put onto trial and later on killed for a crime he didn’t commit. During the trial Atticus points out that they is no solid piece of evidence against him. “The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place” (Lee 203). He is accused and loses the trail solely based on his skin colour. No evidence was found against him, it was just a white man’s word against a black man’s. The mockingbird symbol connects with Tom and even represents him, because Tom was nothing but nice to Mayella, helped her and sympathized her. Everyone in the town knew about the Ewells lifestyle yet made no effort to help the kids expect Tom. Being African American in that era meant having countless of disadvantages. So for him to recognize how bad Mayella’s situation was, and help her go through it, makes him a good- hearted human being. In return, she took advantage of her ethnicity …show more content…
Harper Lee uses mockingbirds to represent innocence, the Knothole to show Growth in character. The crazy dog incident helps to foreshadow and help the readers see a visual of what was about to happen. Harper Lee demonstrates this throughout her novel, making her story even more interesting. Overall for a writing piece to be successful it should show more than just what the author has written
The mockingbird represent innocence and in this case Tom Robinson. The main character, Scout brings up the topic with Miss.Maudie and she says, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.-that’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90). Miss.Maudie goes on to tell Scout about how they are one of creatures that do not do anything wrong, so killing something so pure is injustice. In the novel, Tom Robinson is put onto trial and later on killed for a crime he didn’t commit. During the trial Atticus points out that they is no solid piece of evidence against him. “The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place” (Lee 203). He is accused and loses the trail solely based on his skin colour. No evidence was found against him, it was just a white man’s word against a black man’s. The mockingbird symbol connects with Tom and even represents him, because Tom was nothing but nice to Mayella, helped her and sympathized her. Everyone in the town knew about the Ewells lifestyle yet made no effort to help the kids expect Tom. Being African American in that era meant having countless of disadvantages. So for him to recognize how bad Mayella’s situation was, and help her go through it, makes him a good- hearted human being. In return, she took advantage of her ethnicity …show more content…
Harper Lee uses mockingbirds to represent innocence, the Knothole to show Growth in character. The crazy dog incident helps to foreshadow and help the readers see a visual of what was about to happen. Harper Lee demonstrates this throughout her novel, making her story even more interesting. Overall for a writing piece to be successful it should show more than just what the author has written