To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

Similar to shooting a mockingbird, there were a multitude of innocent people that were persecuted in the novel for being different, At the beginning of the novel, when Atticus gave Jem and Scout air rifles, he explained to them why they could not shoot at mockingbirds. Evident from the previous quote, a mockingbird does nothing but valuable qualities and so there is no justification whatsoever for harming a mockingbird. In the novel, mockingbirds, in essence, represented the best part best part of a person's nature and therefore, killing the mockingbird would be to destroy that humanitarian nature of someone. Throughout the novel, numerous characters could have been compared to a mockingbird, the three main "mockingbirds in the novel, however, …show more content…
There were various ways in which Arthur could be considered a mockingbird, but the main example came at the end of the novel. While walking home late one evening, Jem and Scout were attacked by Mr. Ewell. If not for the fact that Arthur killed Mr. Ewell, Jem and Scout would probably not have made it out alive. The sheriff of Maycomb county, Mr. Tate, was willing to overlook the fact that Arthur murdered Mr. Ewell. Arthur had only the best of intentions when he killed Mr. Ewell to save Jem and Scout and Mr. Tate knew that bringing to light Arthur's actions would only wreck him and "kill" him. Arthur was different and did not like attention brought to him. He was a shy man and so broadcasting his serviceable act to the community would have given Arthur unwanted attention. Mr. Tate was able to perceive how in some sense Arthur was "innocent" and somewhat of a "mockingbird". Scout came to the same conclusion as Mr. Tate when she told Atticus. Arthur only acted to serve the community when he killed Mr. Ewell, so publicly announcing that Arthur killed Mr. Ewell would be as pointless and sinful as shooting a mockingbird. It would serve no beneficial purpose and would only result in taking an innocent man and putting him in a tough