Symbolism within novels is often a debatable topic amongst readers. One can never be entirely sure if certain symbols within stories were actually intended to be interpreted as so by the author. However, whether they are meant to be there or not, there are some very clear uses of symbolism within To Kill a Mockingbird. The biggest symbol within the novel is perhaps the Radley place. This is the property inhabited by the elusive and chilling character Arthur (Boo) Radley and his family. The town is
Through To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us the righteousness of empathy. Harper Lee's technique of writing with Christian beliefs weaved through emphasizes the story's moral. It is through Scout, the young dynamic and protagonist, that Lee opens the reader's eyes to a realistic world of prejudice and inequality during the 1930s. While narrating in first person, Lee further details her novel with the setting and use of style and diction. Though introducing many characters throughout the
people hold against Negroes as she expresses that black people are untrustworthy and shouldn’t be exposed to events happening around them. This mirrors values and beliefs related to social class prejudice. Racial discrimination is presented through symbolism of the mad dog, as Atticus attempts to eliminate racism in Maycomb. Atticus is accused of being a ‘nigger-lover’ by Francis as he
the author’s choices are used to draw us as readers into the story and clearly show the underlying message of prejudice. The three techniques discussed in this essay will be: symbolism, narrative voice and foreshadowing One method that Harper Lee uses to enhance the readers knowledge of the underling message is symbolism. Though the title To Kill a Mocking Bird has very little to do with the story, Harper Lee has made it so it has symbolic weight. Throughout the course of the novel the innocence
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee reveals an aspect of a small fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama set in the 1940’s during the years of the Great Depression. The novel reflects the ideas of conscience, courage and conviction through the story of two young children Jem and Scout growing up with their unconventional father Atticus, a small town lawyer. The novel is concerned with a series of events and experiences from which Scout and Jem observe and evaluate a series of situations and valuable
Finch gives Maycomb a brighter perspective and a more unbiased one because it is through the eyes of a child, Boo Radley gives Maycomb an air of mystery. There are several legends circling Maycomb’s “haunted house”. It seems a lot of them are directed at children: “nuts lay untouched by the children, Radley pecans would kill you” (Lee 11). It is actually the kind of thing Arthur “Boo” Radley would want; for ignorant children to stop pestering him. The “sagging” courthouse gives Maycomb credit for being
Deeper Thinking Francine Prose, an American writer and a professor of literature at Bard College states that to kill a mocking bird is, “a chance to consider thorny issues of race and prejudice from a safe distance and with the comfortable certainty that the reader would never harbor racist attitudes espoused by the lowlifes in the novel.” Prose goes on to say that the book is too simple and says that reading books like To Kill a Mockingbird handicaps students so that they are unable of reading