Symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

Symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird

In her first and only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee drew upon her childhood as the daughter of a southern lawyer to portray the moral awakening of two children in Maycomb, Alabama, during the 1930s. (Harper Lee 239). Contemporary Literary Criticism made known in its article Harper Lee that To Kill a Mockingbird open[ed] with the mature voice of Scout [] (239). The plot center[ed] on Atticus Finch, a small-town lawyer in Alabama who defend[ed] a young black man falsely accused of raping a white woman [] (Polk 175). The novel written by Harper Lee was more than just her childhood depicted through one of her characters. Harper Lee has incorporated many exemplifications of allegories in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Harper Lee is a very elusive novelist who has refused many interviews. One interview in particular that she refused was an interview with Charles Shields, a former English teacher (Dunkleman 33). Notwithstanding, Shields did not give up there. He eventually spoke with 600 people who knew her and who had come in contact with her (33).Through his interviews, in addition to many others, people have acquired many aspects of Harper Lees life and how it ties in with To Kill a Mockingbird. Relationships such as Harper Lee being a tomboy as a child, like Scout, and having a father who was a lawyer, like Atticus, may have influenced her to write To Kill a Mockingbird.

In this story Harper Lee used two examples of a gray ghost to symbolize education and superstition. The two symbols are found as two characters in the novel. Mrs. Dubose was one of the two gray ghosts. She exemplified a gray ghost because she was gray in age. Boo Radley was the other gray ghost. He resembled for the reason that he lived in a gray house. Scout, Jem, and Dill were afraid of Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley for the simple reason of not knowing them fully. Superstition and fear engulfed each of their homes. Atticus explained to Scout that most people are nice once you get to know them for who they really are. Subsequently, the gray ghosts are dismissed and replaced by the knowledge coming from real contact with real people (Schuster).

Pursuing this further, the writers work included yet another symbol flowers burning. When Miss Maudies home became entrapped by fire, it embraced her flowers too. The flame symbolized cold hatred and fiery wrath taking grip of the flowers and depleting their innocence (Dave). This could also be an example of the childrens innocence slowly disappearing as they mature.

With this in mind, another figuration portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird is the snowman the children constructed. Scout declared that she [] aint ever heard of a nigger snowman (Lee 66) after Jem puts together dirt and snow to build a snowman. The snowman represented more than just its physical figure. The dirt resembled black skin color and snow contrasted to make white skin color. The dirt and snow symbolized that if African Americans and Caucasians worked as one, they could accomplish more than they could if they were to work separately on their own. Later, as the snow melted, it suggested how brittle and detailed the chromaticity was as it turned from white to black (Dave).

A symbol is an item or person that has an unexaggerated point and also stands for something greater, such as a purpose or an idea. Harper Lee uses an abundant amount of symbols in her story. Lee did a magnificent job portraying each and every one of them. All in all, due to Harper Lees ability to incorporate symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird, it is a stupendous piece of work.