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To Kill A Mockingbird

The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee shows many symbols that depict society. Based in the 1930’s racial prejudice was a huge part of everyday life. The symbol of the snowman can be seen as mixing both races together while the symbol of the mockingbird can be seen as segregation from those who are different. Both of these major symbols give depth to the novel and help people see problems of the time.
The theme of prejudice in the novel can best be perceived through the symbol of the mockingbird. Atticus advised his children that if they went hunting for birds to “shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Miss Maudie explains this further by saying, “mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up peoples 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.” Blue jays are considered to be the bullies of the bird world. They are loud, territorial and aggressive. The blue jays represent prejudiced bullies of Maycomb, such as Bob Ewell. Mockingbirds, on the other hand, are innocent and all they do is sing beautiful songs; they would not harm anyone. It is easy to understand that the mockingbird in the story is Tom Robinson, a harmless man who becomes a victim of racial prejudice. Like the mockingbird, Tom has never harmed anyone. Even the jurors who sentenced him to death had nothing personal against him. They found him guilty mostly because they felt that to take the word of a black man over two whites would threaten the system under which they lived, the system of segregation. After Tom was killed for attempting to escape from prison, Mr. Underwood wrote in an editorial that he “simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children.” The parallel...