Literary Devices in To Kill a Mocking Bird Essay

The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, like many others of its genre is strongly influenced by the ideas of its author. With this book, Lee has represented her commentaries with symbols or metaphors-- although these can sometimes be overlooked too easily in a lengthy novel. The characters she has employed to convey or be subjected to these ideas are referred to as, the mockingbirds of the book. Her ideas of who they are and how they should be treated are manifested in this lesson to the children: Mockingbirds dont do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They dont nest in corncribs; they dont do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. Thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird (Miss Maude, pg.15). I have chosen to discourse on the mockingbirds: Scout, Boo, and Tom because they best represent the title, To Kill a Mockingbird. These mockingbirds are not the same age or alike in appearances, nor do they lead the same lives; the only thing in common between them is that they are all innocent and have all been harmed by society to a certain degree. Had I selected characters that were only innocent (i.e. Dill) -- though still deserving of the title of mockingbird, their presence would not fulfill the task of explaining the titles relation to the whole book.

The character, Scout is one of the less obvious mockingbirds because her troubles are of a lesser degree than her two counterparts. For Scout, the factors at play that led to her being ostracized by her former group of friends (Jem and Dill) were inevitable. To put it simply, she was ostracized because she is a girl and the boys around her had reached a certain age in which their views towards her had changed. According to some behavioral studies of children, it is pre-adolescent groups which are generally homogenous (members of the same sex), which differ from the behavioral patterns of the children in the book who had just begun to exclude Scout during their adolescence. In theory, what Scout should be noticing is that Jem and Dill want to include more girls in their group, which is the case with the adolescent stage when groups diversify and accept members of the opposite sex (Piagets theory of perception and cognition). However, it is also true that the role of environment is very important in the development of a childs behavior (John Watsons theory of adolescent behaviorism). In a town like Maycomb during the 1930s, where men were the dominant gender and women were generally housewives, it is understandable how these kind of ideas would be absorbed by Jem [from his surroundings] and in turn influence his treatment of Scout. The evidence for the latter statement is clear when Jem says, [Scout,] I declare to the Lord youre gettin more like a girl everyday! (pg.56) By ostracizing her, they have punished the innocent--they killed a mockingbird, when all it wanted to do was sing or in Scouts case, to play. Oblivious to why they might do this, Scout responds by turning to Miss Maude for support, someone who could perhaps relate to Scout from her standpoint as a woman.

Boo Radleys situation cannot be solved or comforted so easilyfor he has no one to run to for support. In hindsight, his story is a sad one, some citizens feel empathetic towards Boo and the details of his punishment. Put under house arrest by his father being in a gang, he spends the rest of his life in isolation, survived by rumors and myths about his activities. Generally, Boo lived quietly, only making his presence be known by giving presents to his children and by coming to their rescue during the fire at Miss Maudes house and at the time of Bob Ewells attack on them. It was the latter appearance that brought him to the attention of the sheriff and had Boo been executed as a result of the killing, it would have been like killing a mockingbird. In the 1930s this punishment was a very real scenario-- even for someone like Boo, because the death penalty was considered an absolute penalty, to be imposed on all according to John Riffus, an Alabama state lawyer. Today, however, a man can escape the death penalty for murder if his defense lawyers plead diminished capacity; meaning that the accused may have known right from wrong, but did not have the same control over his actions as any other man would. Boo is able to fit under this category because years of isolation from society have stunted his mental and social development. From the Sheriffs account of seeing Boo after the stabbing incident and how he was still sitting in the living room, cutting up the Tribune (pg.15) indicates that Boo is still living the life of a child, despite bearing the body of a 33 year old man. Either way, this event would most likely not happen, for Boo could have just as easily pleaded self-defense in the killing of Bob Ewell. However, what would have really harmed Boo as a result of his story of saving the Finch children becoming public would be that he would be [dragged,] with his shy ways into the limelight-- [and that would be] a sin (pg.290) according to Heck Tate. Though this would seem like a good natured gesture for anyone else, Boo would be overwhelmed and as a worst case scenario, have a mental breakdown trying to cope with all the attention after years of solitude.

In contrast, Tom Robinson met his demise by being too public and too helpful. His charge of raping Mayella Ewell was untrue and unfounded, yet he would still be executed like many innocent black men before him had. One could argue that the case had been clearly proved to be in favor of Tom, and despite that the verdict was guilty he could win in a repeal. And in turn, one could argue that for over 200 years the death penalty had been prescribed on the basis of race in the US. In fact, it was mandatory for a black man in Alabama to be sentenced to death had he been convicted of rape [on a white woman]; on the other hand if a white man was convicted of the same crime [against a black woman] he would face a maximum sentence of one year in prison. The facts are alarming and deceiving when you consider that 88% of the men convicted of rape were black, yet statistics during the 1930s showed that black women were 3 times more likely to be raped than white women. These statistics make us conscious of the injustice done to black males when they were tried in court and like Tom a lot of them may have even been convicted of a crime they didnt commit. Mayella is the culprit in this crime, for it was her who broke the barriers of society and when caught, she blamed it on Tom without thinking of the repercussions. It should be her facing charges of lying under oath, for Tom is the only victim in this case. He is the victim of a lonely, deprived woman who sought to satisfy her needs through the one time usage of her unofficial house hand-- who was also a family man, but of course this was of no concern to her. Tom was a mockingbird who was thoughtlessly killed by a jury that could only see justice in black and white. The people of Maycomb believed that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird, the Finch children were even told that if they must shot something, they should point their rifles at blue jays. Such a statement was very confusing for Jem and Scout to understand, for the blue jay showed off brilliant colors while the mockingbird was a dull shade of brown. It was later that they would understand, that one should be judged by the content of ones character, or in this case by what the mockingbird lives for, instead of ones color or exterior. However it is very ironic that Maycombs citizens could understand why it is wrong to kill a mocking bird, yet still convict Tom Robinson because of his skin color. After all he was a hard working man, never intending to hurt anyone, and often helped Mayella Ewell with her housework. The irony of Maycomb is shown in another example when Scouts teacher criticizes Hitler for his prejudice against Jews; all the while she holds a strong prejudice towards blacks.

Maycombs prejudice is an undeniable factor in Toms death, as opposed to Scout and Boo who could somewhat thoughtlessly be labeled as just being victims of what is human nature. Lee made sure that we understood this theme by stressing its importance throughout the whole book, in almost every event. If one found that after reading through the trial of Tom Robinson that one got more out of it than just an understanding of southern law, know that this was intended. Though it wouldnt do Scout and Boo justice by simply dismissing them as societys victims, for they captured our hearts. They allowed us to understand what it meant to kill a mocking bird by seeing Scout getting ostracized or Boo being shut in when we could not relate to the persecution of Tom Robinson.