In her book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces and builds upon a wide variety of characters, who all have a wide range of interests, likes, dislikes and common philosophies; they are best described as either being a mockingbird, or a blue jay, both complete polar opposites of each other. Atticus Finch, as well as Scout Finch, would best be described as mockingbirds, whereas Miss Alexandria Finch would be described as a blue jay. This extreme contrast would represent the difference between people who are relentless for social justice, who are also willing to sacrifice themselves and their reputation to uphold egalitarian principles, and those who are intolerant of people different than they are- superficial beings. In nature, mockingbirds …show more content…
Children are easily manipulated by their surroundings, therefore it seems likely that she would be racist, similar to many children of Maycomb. However, she is not, due to Atticus, as well as Calpurnia raising her to be an unbiased and mature young woman. She does not use any racial slurs, and is reprimanded by Atticus or Calpurnia if she decides to use one from picking it up at school or other areas that she encounters. For example, as Atticus was introducing the Tom Robinson case to Scout, she asks him: “Do all lawyers defend n-Negroes, Atticus?” (77). At the current time that this novel is taking place, the term black, to refer to African-Americans was deemed racist and unacceptable, ergo the term Negro was introduced and was thought to be socially acceptable and accurate to describe black people. This shows that Scout did not inherit the use of the vile word “n*****” from the people of Maycomb, but rather she refers to African-Americans using a term that isn’t racist for the time, a characteristic of a mockingjay. She encounters some particularly brash people, indignant at Atticus for defending Tom Robinson. One example would be Cecil Jacobs at the schoolyard. In that scene, he announces to the schoolyard that Atticus defends n*****, dumbfounding Scout, but she denies his claims, even though she clearly did not understand whatever he was going on about. In another scene, she encounters another youngling of the Finch family, who was raised by Aunt Alexandria’s “moral standards”. He tells her how the Finch family is unsupportive of Atticus’ compassion towards African Americans by stating: “If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that’s his own business, like Grandma says, so it ain’t your fault. I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a n*****-lover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the