Literary Techniques Used In To Kill A Mockingbird

Ismael Ali

Mrs. Barth

English 1, Per 5

28 May 2017

To Kill a Mockingbird In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch and her brother Jem are growing up in Maycomb, Alabama under the care of their kindhearted father, Atticus. In the first part of the novel, Scout and Jem hear rumors about their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley, and figure out that the stories about him might not be true. In part two the Finch children struggle to fit in in the racist society when their father defends an African-American man convicted of rape, and their view on the world matures throughout the case. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee uses literary devices such as symbolism and metaphors to portray Atticus, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley as mockingbirds because of their altruism and protectiveness.

“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.” Mockingbirds are very territorial when it comes to protecting their property and young, but other than that, all they do is sing for the pleasure of others. A service is an act of helpful activity or goodness for the community. Boo Radley is portrayed as a mockingbird in this situation because he did the service of killing Bob Ewell which is a parallel to singing. Mockingbirds do not get anything in return when they supply people with happiness and Boo didn’t want anything as a reward which is why Mr. Heck Tate considered it a sin to pull him “into the limelight” by informing people of his actions. If Boo had been brought to the center of attention it would be the equivalent to