Starting off, the first time the reader discovers what a mockingbird resembles is when Uncle Jack gives Jem and Scout air rifles. Atticus is not interested in guns, but he allows them to use them outside. Atticus then says, “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” (119). This is the first time that Harper Lee makes a direct connection to the title of the novel. As the reader continues, Scout asks Miss Maudie for guidance, prompting her to say, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy...they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” (119). Mockingbirds are depicted by Atticus and Miss Maudie as creatures …show more content…
By killing them, what good does the person gain from doing such an act? A Mockingbird means innocence because there is no justification in the killing of it. With this being said, the title of the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, simply means the killing of innocence. In addition, Mr. Underwood uses the metaphor of mockingbirds during chapter twenty-five when he writes about the trial of Tom Robinson. In his editorial, he states that Tom’s death relates to, “the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children,” (323). Tom Robinson’s trial is unfair due to the racism in Maycomb. Society states that the words of a white person should be higher accountable that the words of a black individual. Tom is innocent for raping Mayella Ewell, but the jury convicts him regardless. He dies later when he attempts to escape from the county jail. The reader knows Tom Robinson’s innocence and realizes how an individual that has done nothing wrong can easily be disrupted. Finally, the metaphor of mockingbirds reappear towards the end of the book. When Scout justifies to Atticus why not to accuse Boo Radley for killing Bob Ewell, she says to Atticus, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”