Literary Symbols
Mockingbirds
- Certain objects are used as part of the story to represent something far greater and more abstract than the object itself.
- Mockingbirds are described as harmless birds that only serve to sing their hearts out for the enjoyment of others.
- They represent the idea of innocence.
- To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence.
- Tom and Boo can be described as the novel’s mockingbirds.
- They are innocents at the mercy of society.
- Scout says that locking up Boo Radley would be akin to shooting a mockingbird.
- Mr Raymond compares Tom’s death to the “senseless shooting of songbirds”.
Boo Radley
- Children’s changing attitude towards Boo represents their emergence from innocence to towards a far more mature moral perspective.
- At the beginning, Boo is the subject of much rumour and superstition.
- The subsequent interactions between Boo and the children ( then mending of Jem’s trousers and the leaving of presents in the tree), make Boo seem more real and human to them.
- By the novel’s end, Boo becomes fully human to Scout, mirroring the fact she has become a far more mature and understanding person.
- Boo is one of the novels crucial mockingbird figures.
- He was a bright child, damaged by a cruel and over-strict father.
- He is a symbol of the goodness that exists within people.
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