Foreshadowing In To Kill A Mockingbird

Symbolism is one of the most important aspects of writing, and Harper Lee uses it beautifully to foreshadow events that occur later in the book. Harper Lee is a writer from Alabama, the daughter of a lawyer, and was 34 years old when she published To Kill A Mockingbird. The book is about a little girl named Scout Finch who lives in Alabama during the sv 4great Depression, and her experiences as her dad, a lawyer, decides to take a risk to defend Tom Robinson, a black man that has been accused of raping a white girl. Throughout the book, Harper Lee uses foreshadowing, a tool to hint at events that will happen later in the story without outright saying it; it is used by authors to add depth to their story and to enrich the experience of the reader.

To begin, Lee uses the mad dog to foreshadow the execution of Tom Robinson. Before seeing the mad dog, Scout and her brother, Jem, are exploring the neighborhood, and then they see a strange-looking dog, so they go to tell their caretaker, Calpurnia. Calpurnia thinks that it is a mad dog, despite the lack of evidence as well as it being out of season, so they call their father, the sheriff, and warn the people of the neighborhood. The sheriff and Atticus, their father, come to the neighborhood where the sheriff hands the gun to Atticus and has him shoot the mad dog. Nervous, Atticus shoots the mad dog and kills it in one shot, a brutal execution, shown by the quote “The rifle cracked. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk” (Lee 127). The killing of the mad dog foreshadows the murder of Tom Robinson, as they are both perceived to be less than human with something wrong with them, despite not being sure that something

The white camellia first shows up in the garden of the Finch family's racist neighbor, Ms. Dubose. One day, Jem destroys this garden, and as punishment, he is forced to help repair it and to read to Ms. Dubose for a month. At the end of this month, Jem gets a gift from Ms. Dubose after her passing, a small candy box with a white camellia inside. Upon seeing this, Jem is distraught at her. With the quote “Jem picked up the candy box and threw it in the fire” (Lee 149), Lee is saying that not only does Jem reject the gift from Ms. Dubose, but he also rejects his innocence, which is what the flower symbolizes. He doesn't just throw away his gift, he throws away his childhood. Later on, Atticus is at that the prison where Tom Robinson is being held and is staring down a racist mob who wants to lynch Tom. While Atticus is there, Jem and Scout also sneaked out and are now also at the prison. Lee uses the quote “ ‘Son, I said go home’ Jem shook his head”. To show both how desperate Atticus is to not have his children get hurt, but we also see how much Jem has grown up, that despite his father's request, he will not leave him and Tom to die. Jem casting the candy box into the fire foreshadows how he will become an adult, as shown by his refusal to abandon his