Compare And Contrast How To Read Literature Like A Professor And To Kill A Mockingbird

When comparing How To Read Literature Like A Professor and To Kill A Mockingbird, many’s first thoughts lead to symbolism. As Thomas C. Foster wrote much of How to Read Literature Like A Professor about symbolism, To Kill A Mockingbird is one huge symbol, including the title itself. By that, I mean that the mockingbird is the overall universal face of this timeless novel, portraying innocence. This theme of innocence is made evident in many instances in the novel by making many characters into that same mockingbird in a way, including the dog, Boo Radley, and Mrs. Dubose herself. However, this theme also includes the innocence of that mockingbird being stolen. In How to Read Literature Like A Professor, Chapter 12 ‘Is That A Symbol?’ , Foster

For instance, the scene where Atticus shoots the dog. The dog had rabies and had been roaming the neighborhood, and Sheriff Heck Tate calls Atticus to kill the dog since he is the only one who can shoot well enough. This is also the first time Scout and Jem learn that Atticus is a sharp shooter. Some simply see it as a dog being put down, but it actually symbolises the innocence of the poor dog who was sick being ripped away from him as his life was. In this instance, the dog was the innocent carefree mockingbird and the burden of his rabies/him getting put down were the evil outside occurrences that tore away that same

Throughout the novel, the children befriend Boo Radley, since he is a shut in and many children of the neighborhood are quite curious as to what he does inside all of the time. Boo and Scout came specifically close, him giving her a blanket when Maudie Atkinson’s house burned down and at the climax point when he makes his initial known physical appearance as he saves Scout and Jem when Bob Ewell attacks them. After the Tom Robinson trial, Jem and Scout are finally starting to see from his perspective as Jem says “Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay inside." This shows that Boo Radley is the in a way “outside character”. He can sense that there are many horrors of the world destroying the innocence, or the mockingbird in this case, so he chooses to ignore