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To kill a mockingbird summary essay
To kill a mockingbird summary essay
Literary analysis on to kill a mockingbird
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To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a metaphor that means “to hurt someone who has done no wrong.” In the book there are lots of characters who represent a mockingbird, the one who symbolised the mockingbird the most was Tom Robinson. A mockingbird is a harmless, innocent person. Their purpose is to sing their hearts out for our own enjoyment. Meaning the mockingbird only does good for others.
Innocent Mockingbirds Wanted Thesis: Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Boo Radley all symbolize mockingbirds because of their traits, qualities, and actions. I. Topic Sentence: Tom Robinson symbolizes a mockingbird because he is not harmful, he is misunderstood, and he is killed over a judgmental reason. A. Claim: Behind his skin color, Tom loved to assist others without a reward. 1. Primary Evidence: He claimed that he would Mayella Ewell without being payed by saying, “No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time.
To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Mockingbirds do not cause harm or trouble; in fact their only purpose is to convince others with beautiful music. Tom Robinson’s death can easily be compared to that of a mockingbird; it did no good but also prevented no evil. Mr. Underwood chooses to write an article that basically every citizen of Maycomb can understand, and this proves to the reader the obvious connection between Tom Robinson and the symbol of a mockingbird. Mr. Underwood chooses to ignore the prominent racial barrier that separated Tom Robinson from justice, and chooses to focus on his disability instead.
At the end of Tom’s trial, Tom Robinson was pleaded guilty by the jury. Scout expected this, yet still felt disappointed by the outcome. Scout feels conflicted with her society. Scout knew that Tom Robinson would have been guilty the moment she noticed the jury not looking at Tom. She feels disappointed about the outcome but was able to later come into terms with it better then Jem.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.
Because the mockingbird is a symbol of innocence it is symbolic of the characters of Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson. Both are misunderstood and judged by the townspeople without really knowing them. Tom Robinson is killed violently due to being put in prison because
Did you know it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird? A mockingbird is a harmless bird that symbolizes innocence and harmlessness, it sings beautifully without disrupting its surroundings; so killing one is considered a sin. Two characters are closely comparable to this bird: Tom Robinson, an innocent black man who was accused of a crime, and Boo Radley, a mistreated adult who lives unnoticed and doesn’t bother anyone. To start with, Tom Robinson is assumed to be guilty of raping a white girl named Mayella. Since the town is mostly white people who don’t think of black people as anything more than people who do their housework and chores for them.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the mockingbird is a metaphor for Tom Robinson. While mockingbirds are discussed in the novel as literal birds that harmlessly sing and entertain, Lee clearly uses the mockingbird to symbolize Tom Robinson. One reason that supports this idea is a Robinson is a innocent man who tried to help someone but then was convicted of rape. Another reason that supports the metaphor is Tom, the innocent songbird, was put on trial for his life and was convicted guilty. This inhuman action of murdering an innocent and harmless man who wanted to help is like the killing of a harmless songbird.both are innocent, and both murders are wrong.
One of the foremost people dealing with being a "mockingbird" symbolically in this mockingbird metaphor is Arthur Radley. Many characters of this Harper Lee Ray novel are effected by the society's unjust behavior in Maycomb. In this novel Tom Robinson faces much of the racial injustice. This is of course common during Tom Robinson's time considering it was taken place in the 1930s, and in the middle of the Great Depression. Tom Robinson is an innocent black man accused of having raped a white woman.
He was a very good person; he never misbehaved or did anything to harass others. He often helped Maella Ewell, but always refused to get paid for it. Likewise the real mockingbird does not do anything bad. It never steals from the fields, it does not nest in corncribs; all it does is sing and bring beauty in the lives of those it encounters. And as the mockingbird can not defend itself when it gets shot, a black man like Tom Robinson is completely defenceless in such a racist town and time, when he gets accused of rape by a white woman.
Due to the book being around the subject of race, it is easy to recognize that the mockingbird is some type of reference to the subject. Readers learn this by hearing a conversation with Miss Maudie and Atticus saying, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee, 119). It explains that Robinson and Radley are perfect examples of good coexisting with evil.
Tom Robinson is considered a mockingbird because he was slaughtered for doing nothing but trying to live his life, “...There’s a black boy dead for reason” (Lee 233). In the quote when it talks about the "senseless slaughter," and the unreasonable, unjustifiable death, it relates to Tom because he is being punished for his false accusations, and it relates to an innocent mockingbird being killed. Tom Robinson symbolizes an innocent fragile songbird because he does no harm to society, his voice is ignored by almost everyone, and he gets shot and killed just like an innocent fragile songbird which reaches the theme of the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’. The book exploration of the moral nature of human beings—that is, whether people are essentially good or essentially
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the term mockingbird symbolizes innocence in a person. In the novel it focuses on the fact that innocence, represented by the mockingbird, can be wrongfully harmed. There are two characters: Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley that are supposed to represent the mockingbird. In the novel, Tom Robinson is the best example of a mockingbird because he is prosecuted for a crime he did not commit. Also, he was judged unfairly based on the color of his skin in his trial.
Even though Scout displayed innocence but still was excluded from games with Dill and Jem because of her gender, Harper Lee did not intend for her to be perceived as a Mockingbird. On the contrary, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are portrayed as mockingbirds, birds recognized for their innocence but also targeted. Body Paragraph #1 Topic Sentence #1: Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of rape, was an example of à Mockingbird because he was targeted even though he was innocent. Integrated Evidence #1: After the town of Maycomb found out about the tragic killing of Tom Robinson, “[Mr. Underwood] likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children”(Lee 323) in an editorial. Analysis 1: Tom Robinson was wrongfully accused of raping Mayella Ewell.
Mockingbirds are an important symbol because they represent goodness and innocence. In this book, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are two innocent men, similar to mockingbirds, who get taken advantage of due to their innocence. Atticus and Miss Maudie teach Scout and Jem that it’s a sin to harm anything innocent by using the example of mockingbirds. Mockingbirds are innocent because they only positively affect people through their singing.