Killing a Mockingbird

“It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”(90).  But why?  Simply because “mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.  They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us"(90).  In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, there was a lot of symbolism involving birds, especially that of mockingbirds, bluejays and finches.

                Mockingbirds symbolize innocence.  Tom Robinson is clearly an example of a mockingbird.  He was innocent but accused.  “[He] was a dead man the moment Mayella opened her mouth” (247).  He did nothing wrong.  He was a mockingbird.  Another example of a mockingbird is Boo Radley.  Everyone accused him of doing different things.  If something was different in the neighborhood, the cause was Boo.  Also, his name was Arthur Radley, but everyone called him Boo.  He obviously scared them, but they didn’t know him.  They didn’t know the mockingbird he was.

                Bluejays symbolize strength.  The same strength that Mr. Ewell had over Tom Robinson.  The same strength that the town had over Boo Radley.  It was an unfair strength though.  Just because of the color of his skin, Mr. Ewell was more powerful than Tom Robinson.  For Boo, he was outnumbered.  Atticus even said “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em….”(90).  Atticus was basically saying, if you can get them, get them, but it isn’t going to be easy.  When you compare both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley’s situations to that, it all makes sense.  It wasn’t going to be easy to go against strength with innocence.

                A finch symbolizes liberty.  Atticus was a true Finch.  He was a Finch because of his family, but that meant much more.  Atticus stood for liberty.  That’s why he defended Tom Robinson.  But finches are often caged, as pets, waiting for their owner to demand them wherever they needed to be, with no voice in the matter.  Atticus had to shoot the dog.  Atticus had to defend Tom Robinson.  Atticus had no choice.  It may not have been what he wanted but since he is a Finch, in more than one way, he obeyed his owner.

                Life was not fair for anyone but the bluejay.  It seemed impossible for innocence and liberty to overcome strength; but they did; it was possible.  No matter what the world thought of them they realized their place.  They realized that they weren’t going to surrender.  They realized that there would be no more sin.  There would be no more killing mockingbirds.