The Mockingbirds In Harper Lee

’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” Essay, Research Paper

In this novel Aticus tells Jem and Scout that

?It?s a sin to kill a mockingbird.? This quote sums up

the heart of the book. A mockingbird is a harmless creature

that makes the world more pleasant with it?s songs.

The mockingbirds in the novel are Tom Robinson and Boo

Radley. Neither of them ever harmed or killed anybody in

their lives, to kill either of them would be a sin.

Boo Radley went through life never hurting a soul.

He left gum, pennies, and wax dolls for Jem and Scout. He

sewed Jem?s torn pants and left them folded on the fence so

Jem could retrieve them easily. Lastly, Boo saved Jem and

Scout?s lives while risking his own. This was probably the

biggest gift that Boo ever gave to Jem or Scout. Boo was a

very gentle person. To send him off to jail, taking away

his life, would be like killing a mockingbird because he

never harmed anyone or anything. Scout makes this point

when she says to Aticus, ?Well, it?d be sort of like

shootin? a mockingbird.?

Chopping wood and doing whatever he could do for Mayella

Ewell was the only crime that Tom Robinson committed. The

readers know that Tom is innocent, but at the same time they

know that he will be killed. Just like Boo Radley, Tom

never harmed a soul. Tom risked his own safety be helping

Mayella He helped her because he was a kind man who would do

just about anything to help another creature. When Tom

Robinson was convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, it was like

shooting down a mockingbird, because he didn?t, in anyway,

shape or form, harm Mayella. The moment that Tom Robinson

was accused of raping her, he was a dead man. Because the

jury could not see the acts,only the charges of a black man

raping a white woman, Tom was convicted and might as well

have been dead.

Boo Radley?s and Tom Robinson?s parts bring excitement to

the novel. We see Boo Radley, a misunderstood man, return

kindness even after the torment that Jem, Scout, and Dill

have given him. Tom Robinson?s death showed that race has

been, and most likely will always play a part in our justice

system even though most people know it is wrong. It will be

there whether they like it or not. In this book, two

mockingbirds are shot and the reader gets to see how much

of a sin it is.