What Does The Mad Dog Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The book to kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about the town of Maycomb in Alabama in the year of 1930s, this town is a small town with small-town gossip. The main character is a small girl scout finch who grows up in Maycomb with her brother Jem and her father Atticus. Nothing much ever happened in this town well until Mayella Ewell and her father Bob Ewell a white woman and man accuse Tom Robbinson a black man of raping Mayella Ewell. Scout’s father Atticus has appointed this case that seems impossible to win. This case will change the lives of so many people including Scout and her family. The author Harper Lee shows the themes of the symbols of the mockingbird and the mad dog. The Mad Dog symbolizes racism and how ugly and dangerous it …show more content…

The Mockingbird represents innocence and the doing of no harm to any this Is seen in characters like Jem and Scout. The Innocence that Scout and Jem withhold is destroyed by the trial of Tom Robinson and the actions of Bob Ewell. Scout and Jem's innocence is taken away by the trial of Tom Robinson because they are exposed to the cruelty of the world. And from events that occur due to the trial like their attack by Bob Ewell. When Atticus gets Jem and Scout air rifles he did not teach the kids how to use them instead their uncle Jack decides to teach them. But Atticus does tell them to shoot all the bluejays they want but to not shoot mockingbirds, Scout then asks her neighbor Miss Maudie what Atticus meant by this, and Maudie states “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). Mockingbirds do not cause any harm To anyone. Mockingbirds are Guiltless and therefore they should not be harmed because they do no harm. People can identify as mockingbirds Due to their capability to do the right thing and to be good