What Does The Flowers Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

Improved Essays
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s use of flowers as a symbol demonstrates different character identities throughout the story. One way Lee symbolizes character identities is through Miss Maudie's Azaleas. At the end of chapter eight Miss Maudie says, “Always wanted a smaller house, Jem Finch. Gives me more yard. Just think, I’ll have more room for my azaleas now” (73). This is Miss Maudie's response after her house burnt down which demonstrates that she sees the positive qualities in things regardless of what the circumstances might be. Here her azaleas symbolize her strength and determination. They also give the differentiation amongst her and her benevolent attitude as well as the bitterness in Maycomb County. Scout and Jem …show more content…
Mayella is hoping for a better and more pleasing life since she is keeping these elegant flowers. The geraniums show that the dream of a better reality can happen even to individuals viewed as less fortunate. Mayella shows her own particular want or better presence through her geraniums. The geraniums represent her dream of wanting something better for herself. Finally, Lee uses flowers to symbolize character identities through the Mrs. Radley’s canna flowers. Frequently, Mrs. Radley would water Cannas in her yard. In chapter one Scout explains that her memory came alive when Mrs. Radley watered her flowers one day. “Old Mrs. Radley died that winter, but her death caused hardly a ripple-the neighborhood seldom saw her, except when she watered her cannas” (11). This flower shows hope, peace, and unity. Jem, Scout, and Dill wanted to see Boo and get him out of the house. Mrs. Radley watering her cannas was a sign of hope so they became unified to try and bring Boo out. The cannas show hope because it was one thing in the Radleys yard that wasn’t a weed such as Rabbit-tobacco, which is a type of daisy that grows in the wild. In their yard there was Johnsongrass as well which can choke out other grass and

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Throughout the novel, women of the novel are are controlled and judged for their qualities. Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses the motif of flowers to symbolize women and their virginity to demonstrate the confinement of women in society. One such example of the motif is the the names of female characters. Particularly, Marquez names characters after flowers to illustrate the heavy protection of women and their virginity.…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Branches of Perspective “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” Author Harper Lee clearly demonstrates the importance of perspective in this quote. She reminds us throughout her best-selling novel that a changed perspective and a loss of innocence fly side by side. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores the idea of changing perspective through the staggering differences between the innocent views of a child, and the more cynical, realistic views of those close to adulthood. One way Lee explores the idea of changing and contrasting perspectives is through Jem’s loss of innocence.…

    • 1363 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Symbolism in To Kill a Mocking Bird Whether it be in literature or even shown in pictures, people use things to represent something with a deeper meaning and that’s called symbolism. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by author Harper Lee, various different themes or symbols are active throughout the book all directly or in some way being tied to the ultimate theme of the book, which is not being able to understand someone until you experience life from their point of view. The most apparent reoccurring theme though is equality because of the fact it’s symbolized through people, birds, and even inanimate objects that Scout and Jem encounter over the course of the book in the tree that turns out to play a bigger part of the story as the…

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The flowers symbolize Elisa’s virginity. Rather than breeding her flowers, she bypasses normal fertilization and makes clones, propagating the flowers. She cares for her flowers in the most delicate of ways, “her terrier figers [destroying] such pest before they get started” (423). She also provides detailed instructions to the tinker on how to care for them, symbolizing the way she has protected her virginity until this time. When giving away her “beautiful” (423) chrysanthemums to the tinker, they are perfect and pure, where as in the end, they are “a dark speck” (425) on the side of the road.…

    • 1170 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The author may put a deeper meaning behind the title to make the comprehension of the book easier. The use of animal imagery, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, reflects the inability of Maycomb’s townspeople to think morally; negatively impacting certain characters. In a Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” the two main character, Jem and Scout, go on a journey on how the racism and inequality are affecting their town. This essay will explore Atticus’s morals, how Tom Robinson’s trial and life gets influenced by the community’s morals and finally how Scout's changed her morals throughout the novel.…

    • 97 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In the novel, the mockingbird is a symbol of innocence and killing a mockingbird would to be to unnecessarily persecute someone or something. During Chapter 10, Atticus explained to Jem and Scout why not to shoot at mockingbirds. Mockingbirds represent the idea of innocence as they don't do any harm to their surroundings, so to kill one would not only serve no purpose, but it would be morally wrong. There is no justification for killing a mockingbird, and yet hunters and children still shoot at them. Similar to shooting a mockingbird, there are innocent people in Maycomb that are persecuted for no real reason.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A crippled black man named Tom accused of raping a white girl in 1930s Alabama town: Maycomb, and a creepy, mysterious man, Boo, that saves two children from the clutches of a drunken man: these men are the mockingbirds of Maycomb County. Mockingbirds are known to be likable animals that do not build nests or deface property; they only sing for everyone to hear. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, harmless characters are symbolized with a common songbird. This is demonstrated through Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon, the theme of flowers is significant for the female characters. Ruth Dead identifies herself as “small’ like flowers and her daughters, Lena and Corinthians identify with artificial rose petals. Many people assume that flowers are beautiful, delicate and need love and care in order to grow. In the novel, these characteristics of flowers are used to identify gender norms for women because flowers represent femininity. Morrison uses flowers to symbolize the oppression experienced by the female characters, Ruth, Lena, and Corinthians, three women who live in a male dominant household.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The inner self and qualities of women include the gentle care a mother has when taking care of the their kin, the femininity a women portrays, and the sexuality of women. The chrysanthemums symbolize both Elisa and the very dull and…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The mad dog represents the injustice of society, taint, and what Atticus has to fight. What did the dog do to deserve disease and getting shot down? It represents the effect society can have on people, and how some, but not many, would like to see it change. The quote “Jem shook his head. ‘Don’t make any difference now.’…

    • 170 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird is filled with symbolism used to display different themes. A major symbol is the mockingbird. Mockingbirds are harmless creatures that just sing and make the world a happier place. Lee uses three main characters that resemble greatly to mockingbirds to get her subtle, but imperative points across. One of these mockingbirds is forced to meet his maker, another is forced is forced to kill, and the last mockingbird’s innocence is forced to slowly die.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism has been a major factor of society in the United States throughout its history. Racial prejudice has even been central to the development of American laws, basically legalizing white dominance over others. Through the book, To kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Scout and her family learns that people are being judged for color. When her father, Atticus Finch, stands up for a black person Scout and her family learns that racism is a prejudice that people were not willing to give up. The theme of the story is racism is the most powerful prejudice.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As stated before symbolism connects to racism because the symbols made between characters show that people do judge one another before getting to know them. Symbolism carries an important role in To Kill a Mockingbird, which also proves the prejudice in the novel. The novel is also fulfilled of trying to find a hero, which is exclaimed as Atticus, and Jem and Scout follow him, but the town does not think that due to the trial, and because he is “white.” This is showing the Maycomb reputation and how people look at others (Smykowski 56). The town of Maycomb is a town in the South with a lot of racial judgment present.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Today, millions of students are reading books in school that they find boring and unrelatable. Students sometimes find it hard to connect to the characters and the situations represented in the books they read for class. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is not one of those books. This book has relatable characters like Scout and Jem who go through situations that student can find themselves relating to. To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful book with life lessons that will always be relevant and important to people of all ages.…

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This is presented through Scout’s description of the Ewell’s yard, when Scout elaborates, “Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars, holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson... People said they were Mayella Ewell’s” (228). This symbol for Mayella is part of a description of a place that is essentially a dump. Geraniums are winter-hardy, meaning they survive through the winter. These flowers, which Lee illustrates as beautiful, especially through the use of the diction “brilliant,” are tough, and survive here.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays