Alexander Timmerman Vande Gutchte Honors English B May 9, 2024 To Kill A Mockingbird Symbolism Scout narrates, “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”(Lee 3). Most readers may look past this because it may feel irrelevant to the rest of the story, but in reality, it foreshadows the end of the novel. Harper Lee published the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, during the Civil Rights movement in 1960. The novel is set in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the early 1930s. It features the life of a 6-year-old girl, Scout, her brother, Jem, her family, and the people of Maycomb. Scout's father, Atticus, is ready to risk everything to defend an innocent black man, named Tom Robinson, in court. Foreshadowing …show more content…
The white camellias stand for Mrs. Dubose trying to pass racism down to Jem, but Jem refuses. As the story continues, Mrs. Dubose passes away and tries to pass racism down to Jem once again. Mrs. Dubose gives Jem a white camellia as her passing gift, and Jem does not like it. Tom Robinson is an innocent black man who is wrongly accused of raping a young white woman. Tom later has to go to trial, and Atticus is chosen to defend him. Scout and Jem witness the trial. They witness Atticus proving Tom’s innocence, they witness the racism that is projected on Tom, they witness the jury labeling Tom as guilty. Appalled that the jury found Tom guilty, Jem shows his true feelings on racism. Scout narrates, “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain’t right,” he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting.”(Lee 215). This shows that in the end, Jem refuses racism. The white camellias and Jem destroying them foreshadow his intentions to exclude racism. Harper Lee uses the symbol of the white camellia to foreshadow events later in the