“Harper Lee’s Use of Symbols and What They Represent to the Reader” Certain words can be manipulated into having different denotations than their original. When talking, people use words to describe others that are usually not used to describe humans. To understand the meaning of these words, one must dig deeper than the actual definition of the word. In literature, this is referred to as a symbol. Harper Lee uses “mockingbirds” to describe someone who is harmed in return for their innocent actions or behaviors. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the author describes some characters as “mockingbirds”, and portrays how some of the characters are harmed as a result of their innocent actions, to show the reader some of the difficulties of living in Maycomb. …show more content…
Raymond is an outcast from Maycomb due to the appearance of his family. The author states in the novel, “,but you see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that’s the way I want to live.” Mr. Raymond drinks not because he likes it, but because he needs to give a reason to others for him living with black people. Mr. Raymond shows the reader that it is better to be considered a “drunk” than someone who has a relationship with black people in Maycomb. He is judged for the way he wants to live, thus he is considered a “mockingbird”. In addition, Tom Robinson is sentenced for a false conviction. As shown in the text, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” Tom repeatedly did menial jobs for the people of Maycomb. Tom fits the description of a “mockingbird”, he repeatedly helps people but is also hurt by them in return. To the reader, this shows that Maycomb, as a whole, needs to undergo change to fix its prejudiced