Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, has a very significant title. This is because the meaning of the title is showed in many ways throughout the novel. In chapter 10, Atticus tells the kids, “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (119). Scout and Jem asked Miss Maudie what that means and she explained it to them. She told them that mockingbirds don’t do anything harmful so it is a sin to kill something so innocent. In To Kill A Mockingbird, there are many people and animals that represent “mockingbirds.”
After Scout and Jem learn why killing a mockingbird is a sin, their father gets a case with Tom Robinson. Tom is innocent just like a mockingbird. The court decided that he was guilty, though. When Tom …show more content…
Boo never leaves his house, until Halloween night, when he saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell. To save the children, Boo stabs Bob Ewell. Heck Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb, knows that Boo was the one who killed Bob, but he also knows it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Heck knows that Boo always stays inside, Boo saved the children, and that it would be wrong to turn in such an innocent person. Heck doesn’t want Boo to go to trial, so he explains to Atticus that he is gonna tell everyone that Bob fell on his own knife. Heck Tate says, “‘To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight-to me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man it’d be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch’”(369-370). Atticus and Scout later are discussing the matter and Scout says, “‘Well, it’s be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?’”(370).
To Kill A Mockingbird is full of “mockingbirds.” The whole finches family could even be considered one. Bob Ewell spat on Atticus and tried to harm Scout and Jem, but they didn’t do anything harmful to him. To Kill A Mockingbird’s meaning is conveyed throughout the story through many characters. Some characters show it by harming the innocent, like Tom, Scout, and Jem. Other, like Jem and Heck Tate, show their understanding of the concept. All of the reoccuring themes about harming something innocent show that To Kill A Mockingbird’s title is a very significant to the