To Kill a Mockingbird

by: Harper Lee

               As you read any book, the author is constantly dropping little indirect hints at something. Maybe by mentioning a location multiple times or the same or having a character listen to the same song throughout the story. Either way, these little hints are just symbols, or an object that represents a deeper meaning in the story than what is portrayed. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird by: Harper Lee, the symbol that stood out most to me was actually the title of the book itself. I believe that the title is a symbol because it connects directly to the aspect of becoming mature and taking away innocence in the story, where the "Mockingbird" represents innocence and "To Kill" represents the taking away of innocence.

               One example of the title connecting to "killing innocence" in the story is that in part two of the story when Tom Robinson is falsely accused of rape and then murdered, Mr. Underwood describes it as "The senseless slaughter of songbirds." This is because Tom, who is innocent, is being punished for no reason. This showed that Tom Robinson represents the Mockingbird in the title and that his death and punishment represents the Kill in the title. 

               Another way that the title connects to maturity and taking away naiveté is that in the story during Christmas, Jem and Scout receive guns as gifts. As Jem and Scout are being taught to shoot the guns, Ms. Maudie says, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but...sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." This quote showed that as the kids grew up and received very mature gifts that took away their innocence, they shouldn't be killing other very innocent creatures because it is wrong. 

               The last example of how the title represents taking away purity and innocence is that after Atticus decides not to take Boo Radley, Scout tells Atticus "It'd be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" This is because even thought Boo Radley starts off as maybe being a threatening character, as he becomes more of a real figure throughout the story, it is realized that he has only been protecting the kids the whole time and leaving very mysterious gifts for them. Like killing a mockingbird, arresting Boo would serve no useful purpose, and would only harm someone who never caused any trouble. So over the course of the novel, killing mockingbirds is associated with the sinful, the pointless, and the cruel.
               As you can see, the meaning of the title was subtly incorporated throughout the story, portraying different scenes where characters innocence was killed or they were harshly punished or accused of things they did not do. Just like a symbol in a book, there can also be things in your everyday life that actually have a lot of meaning. All you need to do is take a closer look at the things that are right in front of you and you may find yourself learning a lot.