To Kill A Mockingbird Symbolism Essay Sample

Have you ever been bullied? It was unfair, wasn’t it? In that case; I bet you can sympathize with a certain character I am about to write about. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, contains a lot of symbolism. One of the most well-known examples is the novel's characters who represent a mockingbird.A misunderstood character, Boo Radly, is an excellent representation of a mockingbird. It is often normalized that people are hateful or share disdain for things or people they don't understand. This was sadly the case for the people of Maycomb and their actions as well as opinions towards Boo. Now, while there are other characters that symbolize a mockingbird in addition to him, I will focus on Boo because he is the most obvious case of this symbolism compared to the other characters like Jem and Tom. Even as Boo endured the pain that was brought upon him, he still remained a good person and was a good helping hand to the children. He can be seen as a character in the novel that symbolizes the good in people as well as represents a mockingbird. These reasons are why I believe Boo Radly best represents a mockingbird in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

It is most sensible to judge someone by their actions and not by their appearance or by rumors spread around about them. In the case of Boo Radly, the people of Maycomb did not understand him, and so they made up untrue rumors and stories about him. In a town like Maycomb, rumors and news spread fast; thus, in no time at all, Boo was treated and spoken about as some sort of monster meant to be feared and made fun of. This was not fair at all for Boo. He was simply a child hidden away from the world by his father, and for that, people disliked him. As Harper Lee wrote in her novel, "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens; they 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" Boo can be compared to a mockingbird in the sense that all he did was help others and show kindness, yet he was unfairly judged by the people of Maycomb.

You may be asking yourself why I chose to write about Boo rather than Tom; to put it simply, I wanted to choose a character that maybe the majority of people wouldn't. I assume that most would focus on the stereotypical racist situation with Tom, so I decided to write about Boo. If you put yourself in Boo’s shoes, you can easily comprehend why he may be more of a mockingbird than Tom or Jem. A quote by Harper Lee, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it," perfectly explains why I chose Boo. You know the lives of Jem and Tom more than you know Boo’s. If you were in the novel and in the middle of all the rumors with no knowledge of Boo that you could really prove. What would you think of him? Would you detest him like everyone else? What if you were in Boo’s shoes? In his skin, if you will. If you were locked up inside all day and were constantly made fun of and used for games, how would you feel? You'd be sad, angry even. You would have done nothing wrong, yet you would be shunned. People knew things about Jem and Tom, and no matter how innocent they may have been, it doesn’t compare to Boo. People never really even saw the real him.

Boo often helped the children of Maycomb. He left little gifts for the Finch siblings and even mended Jem’s pants after they had been ripped and left at the Radly fence. Boo was kind to people, just as a mockingbird would be. They are two different types of kindness, but they are still similar. A mockingbird is simply just an animal that has nothing to gain from singing for people, but it still does. This can be compared to Boo having nothing to really gain from showing kindness to the children, yet he still does. As written by Harper Lee in the novel, "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." It would be a sin to kill a mockingbird, just as it would be a sin to shun and make fun of an innocent person who has done nothing but help people. In a way, the people who wronged Boo killed not only him, but his innocence.

Many clear reasons have been stated to support the claim that Boo, from the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the character that most represents a mockingbird. The people of Maycomb unfairly judged him when they knew nothing about him or his intentions. While others were judged badly just as Boo was, he was undoubtedly the most representative of the mockingbird when his situation was brought up and put into deep thought. All Boo did was help the Finch children with gifts and favors. He posed no threat to those around him and kept to himself, yet he was shunned and disparaged. All a mockingbird does is keep to itself and sing beautifully. To kill a mockingbird is to commit a grave sin. To cause hurt to Boo, physical or mental, is to unrightfully kill his innocence. Boo Radly above all others, is the character who is most like the mockingbird and best represents it.