Harper Lee's famous work, TO KILL A MOCKINBIRD, is a beautiful story in the eyes of many beholders. Though the writer herself considers her novel to be a simple love story, it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and is regarded by many as a masterpiece of American literature. Most supporters probably enjoy this book because of the author's way of expressing her view on the motives of human behavior. In her work, Harper Lee portrays several instances in which one who is innocent is harmed at the hand of another's self-interest. She refers to this injustice in the title of her novel, likening it to "the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children" (Lee, 323). As clarified through Miss Maudie Atkinson, the mockingbird represents …show more content…
Arthur Radley, otherwise known as Boo Radley, got into trouble with the law as a teen and was then confined to his parents house for the rest of his life. From then on he was never seen again with the exception of one occasion when he left the house to save Jem and Scout's lives from the drunken fury of Bob Ewell. He killed M. Ewell and saved Atticus' children. Knowing that, according to the law, Boo had to be tried for his actions by the Court of Justice, Atticus decided it was best that no one found out that Boo had ever left his house. "It'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it" (Lee, 370). Through Scout's remark, Harper Lee teaches that Arthur Radley is possibly the most accurate representation of a mockingbird. Just as a mockingbird does nothing but sing, so Arthur never bothered anyone because no one ever saw him excluding the time he helped these kids. According to the author, bringing such a man, one who has been in isolation almost his entire life, before the jury to defend himself would be comparable to killing him. Atticus, as well as Scout and the Sherriff, understood this. Save the time Scout refrained from killing that innocent Rolly Polly which was used to foreshadow this final event, for the first time in the book, a mockingbirds life was