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What Does Jem Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Maitreya Carroll Mrs. Vande Gutche Honors English 10B May 13, 2024 Harper Lee’s genius: To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s modern classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a book filled with complex plot twists and symbolic devices. The story follows the childhood of a young girl, Scout Finch, and her world in 1930s Maycomb, Alabama. Her father Atticus is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, against rape allegations by Mayella Ewell. The story follows the events leading up to and after Tom’s trial. Many items in the novel can be used to intertwine and symbolize the events that happen in the story. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee creatively uses the symbolic significance of The Snowman, the Mad Dog, and the Soap dolls to foreshadow …show more content…

He won’t wait all day for you—” Heck pleas, “I can’t shoot that well and you know it!” (Lee 99). Atticus reluctantly takes the gun and does the job. The sheriff giving the responsibility to Atticus shows that people might want to do hard things like confront racism, but they are not willing to. Atticus takes responsibility for fighting racism in the court. When Scout questions why Atticus is fighting racism and defending Tom, Atticus says, “For a number of reasons. The main one is, if I didn’t, I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”(Lee 78). This shows how Atticus feels obligated to handle tough situations and how the Mad Dog is parallel to Atticus defending Tom. Shooting the dog represents the start of the fight by Atticus to shut down racist ideas and actions in the town. Finally, Harper Lee uses the Soap Dolls as a symbol of Boo Radley’s compassion. The symbol of the Soap Dolls represents how Boo Radley was a misjudged character, leading him to rescue the children from Bob Ewell. Early in the novel, Jem and Scout discover trinkets hiding in the knot of a tree. Every day they come back and find something

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