Throughout life, society creates stereotypes and misinterpret people. This often has severe impacts on the person’s life and their interactions with outside world. Similarly, Harper Lee connects people in her novel to an innocent songbird: the mockingbird, a symbol that she uses a numerous amount of times to connect between the title and the main theme.Throughout the novel, the mockingbird represents two things: an innocent creature that perishes by acts of evil and a symbol of innocence and purity that does no harm while spreading joy and happiness. Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, and Arthur Boo Radley identify as mockingbirds - pure, innocent characters that face injuries through contact with evil. By analyzing the struggle of these individuals throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader observes that the prejudiced society hurts the mockingbirds; this is important because the author demonstrates it is a sin to harm an innocent being.
To start, Mayella Ewell symbolizes a mockingbird that the discriminatory society misjudges as a result of her low social class. When Scout is in first grade, readers see that the Ewells are poor and struggle to survive. Atticus tells Scout, “the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 40). Maycomb judges the Ewells by their social class: poor whites.
…show more content…
Nonetheless, people in the real world face prejudice from the society for many reasons: race, gender, social class, etc. Upstanders such as Atticus need to put aside their own feelings and stand up for what is right. Thus, the community will achieve an atmosphere of peace and develop everlasting friendships. It is important to stand up for the truth and justice because “it is a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee