To Kill A Mocking Bird Analysis

It is a sin to Kill a Mockingbird

A mockingbird is used in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, to describe someone weaker than others and is prayed on by others. During the novel that theme is very prevalent. The story begins with a girl named Jean Finch (who goes by scout) stating that her brother broke her arm in that past, foreshadowing the rest of the story. Throughout the book you can feel her aging and gaining more wisdom on how to embrace the people around her (the book begins when she is around 6 years old). When Atticus Finch (Scout’s father) states, “...It is a sin to kill a mockingbird”, the reader can take this literally or metaphorically, the metaphor can, once again represent someone prayed on by others; in To Kill a Mockingbird there is three possible people that can fit the profile of the mockingbird, and those three are Scout, Tom Robinson, and Arthur “Boo” Radley, but the one that it most fits is Tom Robinson. During the chapters where Aunt Alexandra comes to the Finch House, Scout is constantly prayed on by her. She scolds Scout for thing such as the way she dresses, acts, and the boys she should be interested in. “‘Aun-ty,’ said Jem, ‘she ain’t nine yet.’ ‘She may as well learn it now.’” (Lee, 224) This quote is taken from a conversation when Scout is talking about having Walter Cunningham over for

“-I seen that black ni**er yonder rutten’ on my Mayella!” (Lee, 173). This is from during Mr. Ewell’s testimony during the trial over the false rape allegations. It shows the kind of verbal abuse that he was taking even in a “civilized” court of law. Eventually during the end of the trial, against astoundingly outweighing evidence showing the innocence of Tom, the jury still finds him guilty and Judge Taylor sentences him to death. This is in my opinion why I believe that Tom Robinson is the epitome of the mockingbird