What Are The Three Mockingbirds In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The Three Mockingbirds In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there is a phrase that is very significant throughout the novel. This phrase is initially spoken by Atticus, but later explained by Miss Maudie Atkinson. The explained version was "' 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'" (Lee 103). Within the novel there are three metaphorical mockingbirds. Those mockingbirds are Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Arthur Radley. Tom Robinson was a relatively ordinary Negros in his mid-twenties with a wife and kids. There were two things that set Tom apart from…show more content…
Everything bad seems to happen to Atticus in this book despite his greatest attempts to do good. He shot a well known dog of Maycomb, Tim Johnson, even though he did not want to, and he had not shot in a long time. An event that is similar, but much more important than this occurs soon after this incident, the Tom Robinson case. Atticus was not even supposed to get this case because he had left criminal defense over ten years ago. But when Judge Taylor offered the case to him, he felt he had to take it. Atticus knew that he was going to lose this case, but he also knew that Tom was innocent. He believed that he needed to try to the best of his ability to get Tom acquitted regardless of almost the entire county of Maycomb's belief that he should "let the Negro get what he deserved." Because of this decision, Atticus and his family were slandered and scorned for being Negro-lovers. Even after the trial, the scorn continued, but it got worse. Bob Ewell spit in Atticus' face and said he would get him if it took the rest of his life, for embarrassing his family during the trial. Atticus told the family that Bob was just blowing off steam, but they didn't think so. After the death of Tom, Atticus was crushed once again. Alexandra is furious at the town for forcing this hardship on him. "'It tears him [Atticus] to pieces....what else do they want from him, Maudie, what else....this town. They're perfectly willing to let him do what they're afraid to do themselves...they're perfectly willing to let him wreck his health doing what they're afraid to do,'' she tells Miss Maudie after learning of Tom's death (Lee 269). The town is willing to let Atticus do as Alexandra says, and he does it because he feels that it is his duty. Bob proved to be true to his word soon after this tragedy. On the pitch black night of Halloween, a drunk Bob Ewell attacked Atticus' children, Scout and Jem in front of the Radley house on their way home
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