Symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem and Scout Finch are the two main characters, Jem is Scout's older brother. They have a father named Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer for Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella, and had to go to trial. Throughout the story many of the Finches neighbors are introduced. One of their neighbors, Boo Radley, is very mysterious. Jem and Scout are very curious about the Radleys in general. This is because the Radley house always has it’s shutter down and the only person that comes out of the house is Nathan Radley. Harper Lee uses symbolism throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird to introduce characters, show Atticus’s motivation, and build suspense. First off, Harper Lee uses symbolism to introduce characters. She uses the mockingbirds to describe Jem and Scout. “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Lee, #94). The mockingbird is the symbol of innocence and vulnerability. Since the book is in Scout's perspective we now know what kind of person she is, just an innocent child mixed up in all of these adults worlds. This also introduces Jem because after the trial he repeatedly says it isn’t fair and sheds many tears too. This event that occurs later on in the book …show more content…
When Harper Lee calls Jem and Scout mockingbirds she introduces them as innocent characters of the plot line. When Harper Lee created this book about this trial, it was a symbol to show Atticus’s motivation. When Harper Lee writes about the Radley house she uses that to build suspense. Symbolism is a technique that Harper Lee uses to achieve 3 main goals in her book. This helped her create a book about a girl growing up when there was more segregation than today just that more