Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’: An analysis of the title Essay

Unlike most books, the title of Harper leewards novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has very little literal connection to the main patch itself, b arely carries a great symbolic weight in the book. We first start to realize the metonymical meaning of the mockingbird in chapter 10 when Atticus told Jem to shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can rush em, but remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird and also give tongue to that Mockingbirds dont do one thing but make music for us to jazzThats why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. From these two statements, we can infer that mockingbirds symbolizes whiteness and harmlessness, both of these traits can be seen in Tom Robinson and Boo Radley in the novel.Tom Robinson, as we deal from the novel, is a kind soul who is often willing to help others in need. In fact, he was probably the only person who was ever decent to her. During his testimony, he also revealed how he has helped Mayella Ewell out with her chores countless times, no n because she is a white but because of his innate helpful nature, despite his injured left arm. He resisted kiss Mayella because of the simple fact that she was a white girl and it was socially unacceptable for a Black gentleman to kiss a innocence girl. Also, the fact that he did non push Mayella away as he advanced provocatively towards him but instead decided to run away in the middle of the situation, proving the take aim that he was a compassionate mockingbird who never intended to harm any one, be it White or Black.Unfortunately, he never stood to win the case despite overwhelming evidence because of the all-white jury and the volume of the Maycomb population who were racists and were prejudiced in favour of the Whites. This matter is made worse by the fact that the populate of Maycomb are afraid to that they might hurt someones feelings if they have to pass a head involving two townspeople. In other words, they would rather have an easy way out by cleaning Tom Robin son than standing up for him and creating more problems. By killing an innocent Tom Robinson who was essay to turn tail from the confinements of prison, the people of Maycomb have unknowingly killed a mockingbird.Boo Radley is the other significant mockingbird in the novel. Although he only appeared physically once in the entire novel, he is an important theatrical role who slow transformed from an enigma and the focal point of the childrens inquisitiveness to someone who heroically rescued Jem and line uper from the deranged Bob Ewell later in the story. In the beginning, he was subject to numerous rumours and was a communal topic for the childrens conversations and games, as his name suggests that of a ghost. His house even got invaded by the children who were desperate to find out more about his life. It was then no wonder that treated with such skepticism and prejudice, he preferred to be a recluse and stay indoors in solitude than to go extraneous and meet the same fate which Tom Robinson suffered. Like Tom, Boo Radley committed no crime but to love children, although it was quite clear that his family forbade him from doing so by cementing the hollow trunk after Jem and Scout found a thank you note in it.It was unfortunate that the children only found out the true character of Boo Radley towards the end of the story after they were saved. Only then did Scout and Jem realized that Boo Radley was not hiding from children but constantly looking out for them, especially those in need. Similar to Tom Robinson and a mockingbird, it is greatly ironic that the Radleys house was invaded by the children because he looked out for children, just like Tom Robinson who was sentenced because he helped Mayella and a mockingbird who is shot because it sings for the people. Never did anyone knew that Boo Radley actually had more character than the average person of Maycomb who were racists and bigots who dared not stand up for someone of another race until then.In conclusion, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are the two main mockingbirds who were innocent yet punished by the society. By deliberately choosing such an grotesque title (at least to the average reader) and juxtaposing the two mockingbirds (one Black and one White) together, Harper Lee perhaps is trying to tell us how justice and compassion reach beyond the boundaries of racism and prejudices. The greatest difference amidst these two mockingbirds is of course that Tom Robinson got killed while Boo Radley was forced to kill.