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How Does Harper Lee Use Symbols In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“Mockingbird don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s garden, don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird”(Lee 84) . Mockingbirds do not harm anyone, just like Tom Robinson. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. During that time people were racist, people were judged by their skin color.Also during that time was the Great Depression which is a really important thing to know when you read this book. Harper Lee writes the story of two children, Jem and Scout, growing up in Maycomb, Alabama. Jem and Scout’s father is a lawyer who is defending Tom Robinson for a crime he did not commit. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses symbolism to represent characters like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. In the novel, a character in particular is being represented like a mockingbird, Tom Robinson a black man who was found guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman (Bernand 79). Tom Robinson was a black man who people thought hurt …show more content…

“Your father is right. Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird” ( Lee 84). Atticus Finch, one of the main characters of the novel, was a lawyer and father of Jem and Scout. Atticus was a really good father and the only thing he told his children was a sin, it was to kill a mockingbird. He was not racist, like the other people in Maycomb. Atticus was one of the characters represented as mockingbirds since he did not harm anyone instead he defended people like Tom Robinson (Schuster). All throughout the novel, The reader can see how Atticus is a person who is not capable of harming

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