To Kill A Mockingbird Essay: Use of Symbolism :: Kill Mockingbird essays

Use of Symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird   Id quite an you shoot at tin basiss in the backyard, scarce I know youll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you hope , if you plenty hit em, but remember its a sin to garbage down a mockingbird. This is what Atticus Finch tells his children after they are given air-rifles for Christmas. Uniquely, the title of the immaculate novel by Harper lee(prenominal), To Kill A Mockingbird, was taken from this passage. At first glance, one may wonder why Harper Lee decided to name her book after what seems to be a alternatively insignificant excerpt. After careful study, however, one begins to see that this is just a nonher(prenominal) example of symbolism in the novel. Harper Lee uses symbolism rather extensively throughout this story, and much of it refers to the problems of racism in the South during the advance(prenominal) twentieth century. Harper Lees effective use of racial symbolism can be seen by studying various exampl es from the book. This includes the actions of the children, the racist whites, and the actions of Atticus Finch. The actions of the children in this novel certainly do have their share of symbolism. For instance, the building of a pull the wool over someones eyesman by Jem and Scout one winter is very symbolic. There was not enough hoodwink to make a snowman entirely out of snow, so Jem made a foundation out of dirt, and then covered it with what snow they had. One could interpret this in two different ways. First of all, the cornerstone of the snowman by Jem can be seen as being symbolic of Jem nerve-wracking to cover up the black man and showing that he is the aforementioned(prenominal) as the white man, that all human beings are virtually the same. sycophancy of these views is shown by Atticus when he tells Jem, I didnt know how you were going to do it, but from now on Ill never worry about whatll nonplus of you, son, youll always have an idea. The fire that night that e ngulfed Miss Maudie Atkinsons house can be seen as the hurt of Maycomb County, as the fire melted the snow from the snowman, and left nothing but a clump of mud. The fire depicts the prejudice people of the county saying that blacks and whites are, certainly, not the same. Another way of looking at the symbolism of the snowman would be to say that Jems combination of mud and snow signifies miscegenation, married couple or sexual relations between persons of different races.