To Kill A Mockingbird Quote Analysis

Lead singer of band Panic at The Disco, Brendon Urie, sings in the song “This Is Gospel”, “These words are knives that often leave scars” (Urie 2013). A knife is a sharp tool with a dangerous blade, and is destructive when used the wrong way. By Urie relating a knife to words symbolizes how some words spoken can really be damaging. Comparing the damage of words to “scars” elaborates on the fact that some words leave a permanent mark that will never go away. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, main character, Scout Finch, is involved in several conflicts that revolve around the negative use of words. The use of harsh words directed towards a person leads to violent reactions , revealed when Scout's classmate, Cecil Jacobs, insults

A boy Scout goes to school with, Cecil Jacobs, heard his family talking poorly about Atticus and acted upon this negative talk, which led to Scout and Cecil being possessed by intense anger. When Cecil confronted Scout to speak negatively about her father, Scout tells, “‘You can just take that back, boy!’ This order, given by me to Cecil Jacobs, was the beginning of a rather thin time for Jem and me. My fists were clenched and I was ready to let fly. Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more... I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be. I soon forgot. Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended nig**rs” (74) Scout is enraged and furious, because Cecil decided to pick on her father. Her “fists were clenched” meaning she was preparing to punch him in her anger. She is only a six year old, but she still wanted to get in a fist fight to defend her father. Atticus taught Scout that she needs to control her anger and “hold in” whatever she was feeling, so she would not be lashing out on anyone. But she

Cecil Jacobs and his comment saying that Atticus “defends nig**rs” is what made Scout forget everything Atticus told her about controlling her anger. Cecil was provoking Scout by his racist talk, and inviting for a hostile argument to occur between the two. His racist statement is what got Scout fired up and ready to fight. Scout goes home and explains to Atticus everything that happened, and how she wanted to punch Cecil for insulting her father like that. Her father tells her to dismiss it and not fight the people who live with them in town. The next day, Cecil picks on Scout again. He goes on to yell, “‘My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an‘ that nig**r oughta hang from the water-tank!’ I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away, ‘Scout’s a cow—ward!’ ringing in my ears. It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight” (76-77) .