To Kill a Mockingbird: Metaphor Analysis Essay Sample

In nature, mockingbirds are intricate creatures that are very smart. They are peaceful creatures who enjoy innocently singing and eating red berries. The mockingbirds in the wild are not too different from how they are portrayed in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In this story, Harper Lee develops the theme of how it's harmful to hurt someone who is innocent through the title, Tom Robinson’s character, and Boo Radley.

The title of To Kill a Mockingbird connects to the metaphor mentioned multiple times in the story, which is, "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird". In chapter 10, Miss Maudie says, “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 corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their heart out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 93). This quote stands for the moral of where you shouldn’t harm someone who is innocent and hasn’t done anything wrong. The idea of a mockingbird and how it’s a sin to kill it, basically intends that the image of the bird is the innocent being. A mockingbird does not do anything but make nice music that does not harm anyone. When talking to the kids, Atticus mentions, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em. But remember, it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” when trying to teach the kids a lesson (Lee 90).

Atticus brings up the opposite idea of the blue jay, which is what Lee refers to as the opposite of an innocent mockingbird. In the wild, blue jays are not “innocent”. The bird harms and attacks other birds, which shows that the blue jay in this story is an antagonist. Harper Lee uses the phrase, “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” to connect to the overall theme and moral of the story. 

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee places Tom Robinson as the image of innocence. Atticus is known to have a mindset of how non-moral racism is in Maycomb county and in the world. He says, "There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads – they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life” (Lee ?). Tom’s trial was unfair, as Atticus states, “they couldn’t be fair if they tried”. The citizens of Maycomb do not value the idea of justice but do value keeping black people in their community in a lower place than everyone else. This connects to how Tom Robinson is a mockingbird because he is an innocent man who has been harmed. Tom is not guilty, but he’s been sentenced to death for a framed rape. He is a victim of the racism in Maycomb county. This makes him connected to the theme because…

Similar to Tom, Lee uses Boo’s character and different actions to support the idea of how Boo is a mockingbird and an image of innocence. After the interaction between the kids and the Radley house, Jem says, ​​“When I went back, they were folded across the fence... like they were expectin’ me… They’d been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed ‘em, like somethin’ I’d try to do. All crooked” (Lee 78). This situation helps Jem understand that what he thinks is a scary and mysterious Boo Radley is a person just like him. Jem has created this superstitious so-called legend about Boo, which has spread among the townspeople. The situations in which Boo has shown compassion towards the kids prove that he is not the image that people think of him as, and he does have feelings. This has been helpful in Jem and the kid’s paths to understand Boo and why he has been doing the things he has. 

Boo has shown lots of care towards the kids throughout the book. He leaves gifts for them in the tree stump, wraps a blanket around them in Miss Maudie’s fire, and this situation, in which Boo does a friendly deed to show no harm to the kids. This proves that he is a mockingbird because over the years, as he’s been ridiculed and messed with because of his reputation in the town. Boo has become introverted and shy because of this. He seems to only be comfortable with certain people, and that is why he is starting to open up to the kids. Lee portrays Boo Radley as an image of innocence or a mockingbird to the reader.

In conclusion, Lee connects many characters in the story, including Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, into the image of a mockingbird. This general idea puts together the theme of the story, which expresses that it’s unmoral to harm a person who is innocent and has not done anything wrong.