What Does Miss Maudie Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us”. Miss Maudie, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, is telling Scout that it is never ok to kill a mockingbird because they do not do any harm to anyone, and they are kind and are a symbol of goodness. Harper Lee uses the mockingbird to symbolize the characters, Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Harper Lee uses the symbolism of the mockingbird to illustrate the character of Boo Radley. Jem and Scout are realizing why Boo mysteriously stays locked up in his house. Jem says, ”I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed

Atticus is giving his final testimony to the jury, he says, "There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing”(Lee 232). Atticus is telling the whole courtroom that everyone makes this assumption that all African American people are bad. That statement is a simple lie because everyone has done something bad in their life whether they are black or white. Tom may have made a bad decision by talking to mayella but he certainly did her no harm. Tom Robinson is characterized as a mockingbird because he has not caused anyone or anything harm. In the same way, Jem and Atticus are discussing how the trial wasn’t fair, Atticus explains to Jem that, "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash" (252). Tom Robinson is described as an innocent person through Atticus’s words. There is no reason for Tom to be accused for this trial because all of the evidence doesn’t add up to Tom being the bad person in this case. Tom is symbolized as a mockingbird because he is innocent. The characteristics, similar to Boos, of innocence and kindness symbolize Tom as a

Scout is talking about how the Ewell family looks, she says “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard”(203). The Ewell family is seen as a dirty, mean family to the town of Maycomb but Mayella seems to be the only one who tries to not have this dirty image. She wants to depict a better picture of her family. By doing this she is kind to people and shows a better image of herself. Mayella is a mockingbird because even though her her family is dirty and mean, Mayella is different from them, she’s kind. Similarly, Atticus is giving his final testimony about the trial. Atticus says, “What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left”(232). Who ever it was, Mayella had to suffer through a beating which everyone knows that it was bob because of the evidence. Mayella is innocent, she may have kissed Tom Robinson but that wasn’t any reason for her father to beat her. Mayella is symbolized as the mockingbird because of her innocence. The characteristic of innocence is why Mayella symbolizes a