Use Of Metaphors In To Kill A Mockingbird

Innocent Misinterpretations “…nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself” (Lee 5-6). The quote “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” is a prominent line from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first initial speech he made after the 1932 election. It is referencing to the Crash of Wall Street in the 1930’s. There was an extensive amount of poverty in Maycomb, which clues towards the Great Depression. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee uses metaphors and symbolism to convey the theme that innocent people are often the most hurt by assumptions based on the prejudice. Harper Lee uses metaphors to portray the theme of innocent people often being hurt by assumptions based on the prejudice. “You know old Mr. Radley was a foot-washing Baptist...” (Lee 44). In this quote, Miss Maudie is calling Boo Radley this to Scout because she believes that Boo is being of the opinion that pleasure is a sin. She also calls him this derogatory name because Boo’s father was considered one as well. Foot-washers are meant to keep pleasure out of their lives. This metaphor makes one feel as if it is prejudice, because Miss Maudie does not know Boo Radley personally for her to say that. Uniquely, Boo ends up liberating Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell. This shows that an innocent …show more content…
The author of this undying tale, Harper Lee, exploits metaphors and symbolism to portray the theme of innocent people being hurt by prejudice assumptions. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was published in the 1960’s, but took place in the 1930’s, which was a time of Great Depression and segregation of blacks from the whites. This was also a time period in which slavery was legal. This timeless tale is still