symbolism in to kill a mockingbird
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee exhibited numerous examples of symbolism. Prejudice, being one of the main themes of the novel, it was also the main base of symbolism. The rabid, or mad dog, symbolized many things, the courage of Atticus being the central one. If you really think about it, the snowman that Jem built was in a way symbolizing the equality of blacks to whites. Lastly, the most apparent use of symbolism in the novel was the fact that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. Using symbolism in the novel allowed for better understanding of the novel. First, the mad dog was a symbol of the courage of Atticus. Although he has not fired a single shot in thirty years he was able to act courageous and kill the dog in one shot. This dog symbolized prejudice. In my opinion, the rabies that the dog had were infectious just like the prejudice that One-Shot Finch was against. Him shooting the dog, Tim Johnson, symbolized how he wanted to erad
icate all kinds of discrimination from infecting the next generations in Maycomb and other places as well. One quote that I took from the book was Scout's description of the trial saying that it "was like watching Atticus walk into the street, raise a rifle to his shoulder and pull the trigger, but watching all the time knowing that the gun was empty." This quote shows that even though Atticus had chosen to defend Tom Robinson, he knew that even if he did have the perfect aim at the accusation that Tom was guilty he also knew that his efforts were useless because his "gun" alone cannot kill prejudice. Symbolizations using the rabid dog, the snowman built by Jem, and the mockingbird that represented many types of people was a great technique used by the author. These symbols allowed for easy reading of the novel and also made it a lot more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Finally, this book's most remembered quote: "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remembe
Some common words found in the essay are:
Harper Lee, Tom Robinson, Miss Maudie's, Bob Ewell, Tim Johnson, Boo Radley, blue jays, kill mockingbird, Kill Mockingbird, One-Shot Finch, equality blacks whites, blacks whites, tom robinson, equality blacks, dog symbolized, courage atticus, boo radley, sin kill mockingbird, build snowman, mad dog,
Approximate Word count = 678
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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