What Does It Mean To Kill A Mockingbird

What does it mean to be a mockingbird? Up until To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee was published, nobody knew what being a mockingbird meant. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in 1930s in rural Alabama, during the Great Depression. It follows the story of siblings, Jem and Scout, as they learn many lessons across the span of a few years. One of the lessons they learn is what it means to be a mockingbird, and who the mockingbirds are in their lives. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, being a “mockingbird” is a metaphor for someone who is criticized but never did anything wrong. Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Dolphus Raymond are portrayed as “mockingbirds.”

The first example of a character in To Kill A Mockingbird that could be

Boo Radley is the classic example of what it means to be a mockingbird. Boo Radley was the talk of the town to Jem, Scout, and Dill during any time of the year. The only thing the children know about Boo Radley was that he hung out with bad people, stabbed his dad with scissors, and since has been locked up in his house and has never left. The children and most of the town have the perception that he is crazy. However, Boo Radley never did anything wrong to the people of Maycomb, he just hurt his father many years in the past. The reason the children are so fascinated with him is because he never leaves his house, but because he never leaves his house he can never bother anybody. One thing that the children don’t know however, is that Boo Radley has secretly been watching them throughout their whole childhood, but not in a creepy type of way. Boo Radley secretly cares for the kids, and in the end of the novel he ends up saving their lives. All of these reasons are to show that Boo Radley has done more good than harm. When Scout finally meets Boo Radley and drops him off at his house, she recalls, “He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives” (Lee 278). Scout ponders how Boo Radley had done so much for them, and how she could never repay

Tom Robinson may not be seen as a mockingbird to most, but he is the greatest example of what it means to be a mockingbird. Tom Robinson, a Negro, was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. This accusation is false, but no one in the town of Maycomb sees him as innocent, only because he is a colored man. He was only hated by the town because he was of color, and for this he was wrongly convicted. He may not have raped Mayella, but he did help her in any way he could and never received payment for helping her, he just did it out of the kindness of his heart. He works hard at his job, and he has a family that he cares for very much. These are all great attributes of a hard-working and respectful man, but the jury of the court, which was all white men, didn’t think so. Tom Robinson was a great man to those who knew him but was wrongly convicted, just for being a Negro. Because he was wrongly convicted he went to a prison camp, and while trying to escape was shot and killed. Someone who never does anything wrong doesn’t deserve to be treated with such disrespect. After the trial and Tom’s death, Scout asks Atticus why Tom was treated so poorly. Atticus replies by saying, “As you grow older, you’ll see the white men cheat the black men every day of your life… whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is… that white man is