How Is Atticus Portrayed In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(Lee, 119) Miss Maudie says this towards the middle of the book, when she and Atticus are talking to Scout about killing mockingbirds. This is how mockingbirds are represented in the book To Kill A Mockingbird. Mockingbirds are innocent and only do good, and that is how some of the characters are in the novel. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Atticus Finch represent mockingbirds. because they don’t harm anyone and are often misunderstood. Atticus is a lawyer and defends a black man on trial, which is despised by many of the people in Maycomb County. Tom Robinson

Towards the end of the book, the sheriff Heck Tate speaks out against Atticus on what he thinks is right. Boo Radley is under suspicion of killing Bob Ewell, and Heck Tate doesn’t want to arrest Boo. To Heck Tate, Boo didn’t kill Bob Ewell so he hasn’t done any harm, and he never has in the past either. Heck Tate says, “To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an‘ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight—to me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man, it’d be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch."(370). This explains that Boo Radley hasn’t done anything wrong in the past, and in that way he is like a mockingbird. Boo did kill Bob Ewell, but bringing him to court explained how he saved the kids. Boo didn’t want this because he did not want to come out into public. After Tate says this about Boo, Scout realizes how bad this is for him. Scout tells Atticus, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”(370). This explains how if Heck Tate were to arrest Boo Radley, it would be like shooting a mockingbird because Boo did save the kids. There were still more characters in the book who represent

These three characters are innocent, and hadn’t harmed anyone. They are also misunderstood. Mockingbirds don’t do much, they are innocent. To kill one is a sin. For people, this would be like accusing an innocent person for something they didn’t do. This really isn’t okay, and unfair to the innocent person. It could also be prejudicing people for the color of their skin, or spreading untrue rumors about someone else. Mockingbirds are innocent, and people who are represented as them are quite often innocent as well. To be considered a mockingbird is a good thing. It would mean that you haven’t done anything wrong, and you are innocent. Many people today should strive to be like mockingbirds, because the world would be so much better off with people causing hardly any harm to one another. Mockingbirds don’t cause any harm to anyone, and that’s what people today should strive to do. Just think, how much better would life be if everyone was kind to one another and didn’t cause any