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 literature that requires deeper thinking. Of course Prose’s statement is right, why anyone would think different; this book is solely based on prejudice people and has no deeper meaning. Let’s think again about this again, if this is so, what about…show more content… I believe in the book it is a symbol for many things, and specifically people, but one thing that I think it is a symbol for is Tom Robinson. Tom is a black man Accused of raping a white girl Mayella Ewell. After the trial he is pushed through, most people think that he has not committed the crime, but still he is wrongfully judged and then convicted of it. Just like a singing mockingbird he is innocent, but even though the jury and the people know that the Ewell family is liars, they still don’t believe tom basically because he is black. The author is trying to say that it is a sin for the people and the judges to convict tom since he is innocent. Another meaning that could come from this book is racism just like it is a sin to judge Tom Robinson and put him in jail; it is as well a sin to treat black people worse than white people. Harper Lee has used Tom Robinson as a symbol for a mockingbird, which helps me to comprehend the title “to kill a mockingbird”, therefor we get a better understanding for the true meaning of the book. Harper Lee says in the book, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Tom didn’t beat anyone, but was wrongfully accused. Soon afterward he died from the lie. So tom is just like the mocking birds, the metaphor, they don’t do anything but help, to kill one is a