Mockingbird Characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird” Essay

There ar mevery different mockingbird founts in Harper Lees classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Early on in the novel, Atticus tells his children to shoot all the unappeasable jays that you want, but remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird (Lee 103). He says this because mockingbirds are known to be harmless creatures that do nothing but sing joyously. Lee cleverly uses this mockingbird mental imagery to agnomen her classic novel and to describe characters that are kind, innocent deal and have done nothing disparage, but are destroyed by the society around them.The first mockingbird in this novel is birdie Radley. At the beginning of the story, raspberry bush is a strange and mysterious psyche to both Jem and Scout. Because he is unknown and not in truth well understood, they regard that he is a monster, along with most of the people in Maycomb. They remove up unfair, gruesome stories and accusations to the highest degree him because he is never seen or heard. As the s tory progresses, one learns that raspberry is a kind man who acts as a type of father figure to the children leaving them gifts in a knothole outside his home and repairing Jems pants after he is pinch at by Nathan Radley. He does not voluntarily stay locked up in his house, but is kept there almost as a prisoner by Nathan. At the end of the novel, Boo shows that he is very brave by saving the childrens lives by killing their assailant Bob Ewell. It is decided by Maycombs sheriff, Mr. Heck Tate, that nobody would tell about this murder because if they did it would be like killing a mockingbird because Boo is so shy and reclusive, never harming a soul until it is necessary (Lee 317)The character of tom turkey Robinson is that of yet another cruelly treated mockingbird. The entitle of the novel refers most specifically to his character in the fact that Tom is an innocent man, who is killed only because he is black. He is accused of raping a boylike white girl in a town full of b lemish and hatred towards Negroes. In his testimony he states that he feels compelled to help the adolescent girl with her chores, and when she approaches him, he decides to run instead of pushing her away.This shows his gentile, sympathetic character and that he is a true mockingbird character. The all white jury, though, cannot touch past the color of his skin, and when he is accused of the offense and sent to a prison camp, heattempts to escape, but fails because of his crippled left arm and is shot. Mr. underwood compares his death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children (Lee 275). This again relates to the mockingbird title by showing Toms good natured character and willingness to tin pleasure for others being destroyed by the narrow minded citizens of Maycomb.Boo and Tom Robinson are both misunderstood by the people of Maycomb. They are both innocent songbirds who have different lifestyles than the others in their community, and since others dont kno w them for who they truly are, they are unjustly treated. These characters were not punished for wrong doings, but for being different from the normal. Had the people of Maycomb taken the time to pretend to know and understand these citizens better, they might not have had to kill any mockingbirds, thus showing the significance of Lees properly hardened title.