What Does Tom Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

John Reuse

Mrs. Kiefer

English I

22nd February 2023

Mockingbirds

Mockingbirds. They can often be heard singing outside of homes. People often take them for granted and often go unnoticed but they provide beautiful songs to listen to in the morning. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird captures these birds in more of a symbolic way that shows how innocent people who do nice things that often go unnoticed often get metaphorically “killed”. To Kill a Mockingbird is an interesting story from the point of view of a 9-year-old in a town called Maycomb involving three unlikely victims named Atticus, Boo, and Tom. The three characters all represent the metaphorical phrase “to kill a mockingbird” due to many instances where they suffer in situations

Tom is an innocent, hardworking man who had only tried to assist a fellow neighbor because he “felt right sorry for her” (Lee 224). This neighbor is a woman named Mayella Ewell who is the oldest of 8 and has a horrible drunken father. The statement that he felt sorry shocked the entire courthouse because it is very strange and rude for a black person to feel sorry for a white person in this racist town. After the jury had cast their verdict the judge read them out “Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. . . .”(Lee 240). Many good points were brought up before that statement before but are not enough for the jury to be able to look past their prejudices resulting in a death sentence for Tom. This shows that Tom’s innocent act is turned around and he got “killed” for it metaphorically and also quite

Boo really likes Atticus’s kids because they gave him entertainment for when he sat in his home all day. He is watching Scout and Jem come back from the beauty pageant when they are attacked by Bob Ewell. Boo left his home for the first time in years so that he could save them and from Scout’s point of view “somebody yanked Mr. Ewell down”(Lee 308). This is Boo and it is very unexpected because Boo has never been seen by Scout or Jem so scouts first reaction is that Jem somehow pulled this massive crazy man off them. Both Scout and Jem make it out alive because Scout is saved by her costume from the pageant and Jem got lucky but his arm is broken by Bob in the scuffle. The reason that Boo could fight off a man with a knife I that he brings one of his own. This knife is found and taken by a sheriff named Heck Tate because it can be evidence against Boo which will mean a whole new court case against the murder of Bob Ewell. The sheriff did not want this because he knows Boo is innocent. Atticus is originally against this idea but then says to himself that “it would sorta be like shootin’ a mockingbird wouldn’t it?” (Lee 316). Atticus understands that Boo is innocent so he just drops it