Essay On Trees In To Kill A Mockingbird

American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker Zora Neale Hurston once said, “Trees and plants always look like the people they live with, somehow.” This quote speaks to the idea that people’s external environment, such as the presence of trees and plants, is often reflective of their inner landscape. The way someone chooses to live and what they surround themselves with can tell us a lot about them and their values. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a few characters have connections to their plants that seem to correspond with their personality traits. The story is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The protagonist is a young girl named Scout Finch, who lives with her brother Jem and

Her geraniums are delicate and beautiful flowers that can brighten up any space, including her own, dull life. During the court hearing, Scout is thinking back to the rough state of the Ewells’ home when Bob Ewell is testifying. It is run down and trashed, with virtually no hope of restoration. However, there is one part of their plot that somehow seems well taken care of. Scout recalls, “One corner of the yard, though, bewildered Maycomb. 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, had Miss Maudie deigned to permit a geranium on her premises. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s” (Lee 195). Mayella has taken great care of her geraniums, so much so that they were compared to Maudie Atkinson, who is known for her beautiful garden. This suggests that Mayella values their beauty and wants to bring it into her own life in the form of her flowers. Despite all the mess going on around her, she tries to focus on her geraniums which are vibrant and lovely, exactly what she aspires to be. Once it’s Mayella’s turn to testify, she seems to be fragile as she appears on the stand according to Scout. Her father, Bob Ewell, is likely to blame for this, as his alcoholism leads him to often abuse his own daughter. Scout compares Mayella to Bob, who seems very dirty and unhygienic from a lack of showering, while “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard” (Lee 204). It appears that Mayella attempts to look presentable and Scout thinks this is similar to how she cares for the geraniums in her yard. The comparison implies that Mayella is trying to bring some beauty and order into her life, despite the fact that she lives in poverty and chaos. The