To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

In the historical fiction novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the symbol of the mockingbird is shown throughout the novel. Atticus states “‘It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’” (Lee 103). He says this because they don’t bother anyone and are very peaceful animals. The metaphor “to kill a mockingbird” means to take away a person’s innocence. In the novel, Jem Finch, Dill Harris, and Tom Robinson can be viewed as “mockingbirds”.

In the beginning, Jem thinks Maycomb is Earth's safest place. He thinks that there is no one that could commit a crime or try to hurt someone else. To him, Maycomb is a place of only goodness and only good people live there. He also thinks that everyone has good intentions and would never do anything to him. Many events “kill” Jem, but the main event is when Bob Ewell attacks him and Scout on their way home from the Halloween Pageant. When Jem and Scout are being attacked by Bob Ewell, the author writes, “More scuffling, and there came a dull crunching sound and Jem screamed.” (Lee 301) Bob Ewell badly hurts Jem. Bob breaks Jem’s arm as if he wants to rip it off. This forces Jem to see that some people in Maycomb have bad intentions and are willing to hurt him and his sister. He understands that Maycomb isn’t

He doesn’t see how far racism can go yet, but he learns about it later. Tom Robinson is “killed” when the jury decides that he is guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, even though he never did. “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson.” (Lee 240) The jury not looking at Tom would destroy him since he He now sees the world where he is given the death sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, and even the people who tried to help him like Atticus and Judge Taylor can’t overpower the racist people who were part of the jury who convicted