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To Kill A Caged Bird Analysis

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To Kill A Mockingbird And Caged Birds “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”- Maya Angelou

Have you ever had any emotional or physical struggles in your life that sometimes made you feel as if though you were caged and unable to achieve your goal? To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a historical fiction novel told in the eyes of a young girl named Scout as her father, Atticus Finch , a lawyer in the 1950’s in Alabama, is burdened with the task of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, of harming a white girl, Mayella Ewell. “Caged Bird” …show more content…

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Tom ran for it even though he knew there were high risks of him being killed, which shows how the caged bird in the poem “Caged Bird” is much like him. In the poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou, the caged bird is compared and contrasted to a free bird and by examining the circumstances of Tom Robinson’s life, I say that he is very much like the caged bird. For instance, in stanza two it’s stated “His wings are clipped and/ His feet are tied/ So he opens his throat to sing.” If we compare the bird’s wings to Tom Robinson’s hope, the feet to his heart, and his action of running to the action of opening his throat to sing, we can visualize the song that Tom Robinson would sing, one about him losing hope and not wanting anyone to control his life anymore, and so in this manner he is very much like the caged bird in this poem. Similarly, Tom Robinson’s physical struggles can be compared to the caged bird in the poem “Sympathy”. In the novel it’s written “Tom …show more content…

In To Kill A Mockingbird Boo Radley is a man who always stays shut up inside of his house which causes many rumors about him to be spread around the town. For instance, at the end of chapter 14 it’s stated “Dill?”/ “Mm?”/ “Why do you reckon Boo Radley’s never run off?”/ Dill sighed a long sigh and turned away from me./ “Maybe he doesn 't have anywhere to run off to…” This shows how Boo Radley is emotionally struggling because people always are assuming things about him that can cause him to feel uncomfortable around others. At the end of the book Boo Radley acts afraid of everything like when it says “Will You take me home?’ He almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark.” After witnessing Jem, Scout, and Dill acting out his rumored “life story”, I infer that it must have been very weird and uncomfortable for Boo to be so close to “his children” when they were the ones who supposedly made fun of him. Emotionally he is struggling because he is overwhelmed by the fact that he is always a hot topic of the town, and the trio acting his story out didn’t make him feel any better. In the poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou the last stanza is written “The caged bird sings/ with a fearful trill/ of things unknown/ but longed for still/and his tune is heard/ on the distant hill/ for the caged bird/sings of freedom.” Boo Radley

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748 Words | 3 Pages

Just like people target the mockingbird, people would tend to target Boo Radley. Boo Radley was innocent of all the crimes people claim he committed, but he just desires to stay inside and keep to himself. While reading the novel, I believe he yearns to stay inside because he does not wish to face the false rumors that have been spread about him. One of the last ways Boo is symbolized by the mockingbird is Boo protects Scout and Jem from harm. The mockingbird also protects people, not in the obvious ways, but the mockingbird sings music to comfort people and cause them to feel safe.

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146 Words | 1 Pages

Thinking back to when I read "To Kill a Mockingbird", I now recall striking comparisons between Maya Angelou 's autobiography and Harper Lee 's fictional novel. While reading "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", I drew more connections between the two very different books. Matthew has already pointed out the similar theme of racism, but I think there could be more similarities between the characters. Even though Maya Angelou and Jean "Scout" Finch were of different nationalities, both girls suffered due to their imaginative nature and physical appearances. Maya and Scout have compassionate older brothers (Bailey Johnson Jr. and Jeremy "Jem" Finch), a loving parent (Annie "Momma" Henderson and Atticus Finch), and the two girls live in a

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704 Words | 3 Pages

Primary Evidence: Jem tells Scout that he thinks that Boo stays in his house because Boo knows that if he was to be seen in public he would be judged by Maycomb citizens (Lee 227). 2. Interpretation: Like a mockingbird, Boo is misjudged and people are scared that he will harm them, but he is actually innocent and loving. B. Claim: Boo radley is a loving giving man who likes to bring joy to

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957 Words | 4 Pages

Despite race discrimination around the world, there are still people who overcome and persevere through these challenges - often at great risk to themselves. During the 1930s, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a small town called Maycomb held a trial against an innocent African American man accused of raping a Caucasian woman. The reader experiences life in Maycomb through the eyes of ten year old girl name Jean-Louise Finch, Scout. In this case, Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, was assigned to be the lawyer for the accused, Tom Robinson. However, Atticus has integrity and tries his best for Tom even if his own life is at risk.

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485 Words | 2 Pages

In Harper Lee’s novel To kill a Mockingbird she show the significance of protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Tom Robinson is an african-american man who needs protection because he lives in Maycomb, Alabama and white people think that he is lesser than they are and that all african-americans lie. Arthur Radley or Boo is a recluse and a hermit. He need to be defended because he is not social, he stays inside his house all day and is made fun of by everyone in Maycomb. Scout Finch is the daughter of Atticus and is a young child.

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1087 Words | 5 Pages

Arthur Radley, colloquially known as Boo Radley, is a reclusive man who refrains from leaving his house. This is a significant social faux pas in Maycomb, and as a result, he is highly gossiped about by the townspeople and negative rumors constantly circulate regarding him and how he is mentally ill and should be feared. At the beginning of the novel, Scouts perception of Boo Radley is no different. As the novel progresses Scout slowly begins to empathise more with Boo; and she begins to fear him less after various events in the novel, such as the times Boo leaves Scout and Jem presents (59-60) and the time Boo places a blanket on Scout 's shoulders during the fire at Miss Maudie’s house (71-72). Scout’s empathy towards Boo Radley is really only fully developed by the end of the novel when Boo saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell.

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980 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee, the readers can see how Scout changes her view about Boo Radley. Because of their nosiness, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to drag Boo out his house and to the outside world. Their innocent actions combined with Boo’s actions changed the image of Boo, in their minds, from “a malevolent phantom” (10), a person who kills cats and eats squirrels to a neighbor they can trust, who saves them from Bob Ewell. Scout says at the end, “Boo was our neighbor” (373). The readers can see a great change in their relationship.

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535 Words | 3 Pages

Angelou and Dunbar show similarities when they describe feeling trapped like caged birds, but their portrayal of the birds contrast in their actions

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751 Words | 4 Pages

" This shows that Boo Radley is the in a way “outside character”. He can sense that there are many horrors of the world destroying the innocence, or the mockingbird in this case, so he chooses to ignore

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1144 Words | 5 Pages

The mockingbird in the title of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," symbolizes a number of characters throughout the novel. In order to fully understand why these characters symbolize killed mockingbirds, one must first understand what the title represents and why it's wrong to kill a mockingbird. The idea that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird was first mentioned by Atticus Finch (the protagonist's, Scout, father) when he saw the children shooting things with BB guns. As he knows that soon they will go after birds, he tells them: "Shoot all the Blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”. As Miss Maudie (the Finch's next-door neighbour) explains to Scout, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird because

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507 Words | 3 Pages

Boo Radley represents one of the “mockingbirds” in the book, and a mockingbird is someone that is pure and innocence in the world. He is a good person that is hurt by the evil of mankind. In a lot of ways, Boo Radley might have have wanted to stay shut up in his house after seeing some of the awful acts that the townspeople have committed. But after seeing the Finch kids being attacked by Bob Ewell he had no choice but to leave the comfort of his own home that he has been enclosed in for so long to come out and save them. All though it would have been easier for this man to stay in his house rather than leave and then be drug into court, he did what he knew would be right and rescued the

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914 Words | 4 Pages

Hope, Rage, and Sacrifice Oppression is an illness that has plagued the world for centuries. This is shown in “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou as the birds are trapped by oppression and the birds must break free from it. Maya Angelou and Paul Laurence Dunbar use the central symbols of the free bird and the caged bird to reveal the theme of oppression. The symbols of rage and hope accompany the theme oppression.

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443 Words | 2 Pages

In the two poems Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Caged Bird by Maya Angelou, gave a comparison between the life of a caged bird and the life of a slave. There are similarities and differences in the two poems. The difference between the two poem is that Sympathy is more aggressive than the poem Caged Bird, and the similarities of the two poems is the theme and imagery. The poem Sympathy the poem

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700 Words | 3 Pages

“Caged Bird” written by Maya Angelou in 1968 announces to the world her frustration of racial inequality and the longing for freedom. She seeks to create sentiment in the reader toward the caged bird plight, and draw compassion for the imprisoned creature. (Davis) Angelou was born as “Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St Louis, Missouri”. “Caged Bird” was first published in the collection Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? 1983.

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1215 Words | 5 Pages

In the poems “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou, both portray captive birds that sing. However in “Sympathy”, the bird pleads with god for freedom, whereas in “Caged Bird” the captive bird calls for help from a free bird. In “Sympathy” the bird knows what freedom feels like since there was a time where the bird was once free, but now is trapped. In the first stanza the use of imagery revealed how freedom felt before the bird was caged.

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