Gift Giving In To Kill A Mockingbird

A gift is something meaningful given from one person to another. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee exemplifies many underlying meaning through the act of gift giving. Four important gifts that were given from one character to another were the soap dolls from the Radley Tree, Calpurnia, the pocket watch from the Radley Tree, and Boo Radley.
The Soap dolls from the Radley Tree was a gift given from Boo Radley to the children. The dolls looked like the children even though they had never met Boo Radley before. “The boy had on shorts, and a shock of soapy hair fell to his eyebrows. I looked up at Jem . . . Jem looked from the girl-doll to me. The girl-doll wore bangs. So did I. ‘These are us,’ he said” (Lee 60). The dolls were whittled from soap. Soap is pure and clean. The dolls were made from soap because the

She was a negro woman who was employed by Atticus. “Atticus, Jem and I, plus Calpurnia our cook.” (Lee 6). Even though “a cook” was Calpurnia’s job title, she was much more than that. Calpurnia helped Atticus run the house and took care of his children while he was away. Calpurnia was a mother figure to Scout and Jem because their mother had died a short time after Scout was born. “four years later I was born, and two years later our mother died from a sudden heart attack.” (Lee 6). Calpurnia taught Scout how to write. “She would set me a writing task by scrawling the alphabet firmly across the top of a tablet, then copying out a chapter of the Bible beneath.” (Lee 18). Calpurnia also showed the children right from wrong. “anybody sets foot in this house’s yo‘ comp’ny, and don’t you let me catch you remarkin’ on their ways like you was so high and mighty!” (Lee 24). When Atticus was away, the children went with Calpurnia to her church. This experience opened Scout and Jem’s eyes to the Negro Community and things they did versus what others do. Calpurnia was a healthy influence on the