ipl-logo

What Does Tom Robinson Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

828 Words4 Pages

Who is a symbol of a Mockingbird and what does a Mockingbird symbolize? Tom Robinson from Harper Lee's novel To Kill A MockingBird symbolizes a Mockingbird. The bird represents innocents and it does no harm to others. Mr. Robinson symbolized the Mockingbird because he was fated to death even when he was innocent. Also, Tom is disabled and is unable to use his left hand and arm. Mr. Robinson faces racism within the court and in town. Tom Robinson was fated to death even when he had lots of evidence proving his innocence. On page 323 it states, “ Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” This shows everyone already made up their mind about Tom without listening to the evidence and Tom never even had a chance of surviving. Also, on page 323 the text says, “but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case.” Even though Atticus is the best lawyer in town he could not convince the people of Maycomb of the innocents …show more content…

Robinson was disabled and could not use his left hand nor arm. On page 254 we can see how useless his hand is when the text says, “As he raised his right hand the useless one slipped off the Bible and hit the clerks table.” We see how he can’t control his hand. Another detail is when the text says, “It was her right eye.” This shows that the person who beat up and took advantage of Mayella had to punch her with his left hand, which couldn’t have been Mr. Tom Robinson. When Reverend Sykes whispers to Scout and Jem and says,”He got caught in a cotton gin, caught it in Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s cotton gin when he was a boy … like to bled to death … tore all the muscles loose from his bones-” This shows in detail how Tom became disabled and how and why he can no longer use his arm. Mr. Robinson’s left hand was disabled when he was just a boy and now he can no longer use it. Mayella's right side of her face was beat up so someone punched her with the left hand. These details help prove the innocence of Tom

Open Document