Symbolism is implemented into literature when an author wants to represent something through words meaning something else. In this particular case, it appears as if author Harper Lee incorporated symbolism in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. She writes about the time in which it began to snow in Maycomb County, for the first time in decades. In fact, it was Scout’s first ever encounter of snow, and when she saw it, she let her innocence kick in, as she looked out the window in horror and presumed that the world was ending. Jem was then eager to create a snowman. He started by raking up dirt and creating a “mudman” as the base of the snowman. Immediately, Scout asked if he was making a negro snowman, as she’d never heard of one of those before. …show more content…
Similar to how the mudman isn’t commended as a beautiful and great creation, until it turns into a white snowman, black individuals in Maycomb County aren’t seen for their own qualities; they are rather perceived by their correlations with white individuals (whether they work for a white man, have done wrong to a white man, care for a white man’s children, etc.) Instead of creating a black character, Jem and Scout end up replicating Mr. Avery and then decide to create a morphodite. In no way did it appear that the children wanted to keep the mudman. Events with the mudman portrayed Jem and Scout’s levels of unconscious bias towards blacks and how blacks are treated in Maycomb. If they had kept their mudman, it is clear that neighbors, such as Miss Maudie, would be confused and ask why they didn’t create a