Week 5 homework

Consider the title of the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”. 

1.What is the mockingbird a symbol of? 
The mocking bird is a symbol of a person/thing that inflicts no harm onto anyone. The mockingbird has only done good, and therefore, it should be protected and not prosecuted. "mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird" [pg 100.]


2.Which characters might this relate to? Justify with evidence. 
In the novel, there are two dominant characters that represent the "mocking bird". 
a) Tom Robinson. Like the mocking bird, Robinson only ever did good, he would help Mayella with whatever she called need for when he passed, as stated in his questioning, "She'd call me in, suh. Seemed like every time I passed by yonder she'd have some little something' for me to do.. I was glad to do it" [pg 211]. However, Tom is killed when he tries to escape his inevitable death via the court. By relating the character of Tom Robinson to the symbol of the mockingbird it shows to the audience that Robinsons death was a sin. 

b) Arthur, aka. "Boo" Radley. Like the mockingbird, Boo had never done any harm to anybody, and, as the mockingbird does only good, Boo has only ever cared for, and looked after the Finch children. Amougst giving them gifts, he cared for them by putting the blanket around Scout in the night of Mrs Maudines fire and he also protected them when they were being Attacked by Mr Ewell. Boo's relevance to the mockingbird is made clear when Atticus asks Scout to say that Mr Ewell fell on the knife, and she replies "Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird..." pg 304

3.Which of the ideas underpinning the novel are explored through the use of this symbol? Write a paragraph in which you discuss one idea and analyse how the use of the mockingbird symbol presents this idea to the reader.

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee, uses the symbol of the mockingbird to fully develop the ideas of racial prejudice in the southern United States. Lee positions the reader to think the mockingbird as a symbol for a person who does nothing wrong, but is only there to help, by Miss Maudie explaining to the Finch children "mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird" [pg 100.]. With the mockingbird symbolising an innocene that should not be harmed, Lee is then able to realate that symbol to the character of Tom Robinson, a negro who is wrongfully charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell, a white girl. Through Robinson's trial, the reader learns that Robinson would often pass the Ewell's residence and help Mayella with whatever she asked for because Robinson "felt right sorry for her" [pg217]. Robinson's pure and un-harming motives, reflect what Lee was describing as the mockingbird and thus highlights the idea of racial prejudice within the context of the text. Robinson was the mockingbird, he did no harm to anyone, but only helped whenever he could, thus according to Atticus's advice to his children, Robinson should not be prosecuted to any extent. However because of the racial prejudice against the negroes within the white society, Robinson is trailed and convicted by only the word of a white family. By exploring the idea of racial prejudice by the use of the mockingbird symbol, Lee is able to describe to the audience that the negroes should never have been prosecuted because they had done nothing wrong.