The Bird's Symbol - Research Paper Example

The Bird’s Symbol A book by Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird was a narrative of a little girl d Scout on the lessons of perspective, sympathy and understanding. In the narrative, Scout journeys through the transition from her childhood to her adulthood. And with her journey, she found herself face-to-face with the co-existence of good and evil, how it contrasts and thrives in the human world, and how the existence of the two contrasting values bring forth the values that Atticus, Scout’s father, instilled in her through his repeated advice on perspective. Her experiences made her understand and even more embrace the values taught by his father. The narrative has several symbolisms that circle around its themes. And the mockingbird, or a bird, is the most prominent one throughout the text. When Lee makes a moral point, she turns to mockingbirds for an allusion (Dave). One symbolism of the mockingbird is the innocence of people. The innocents in the story, like Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley and Mr. Raymond, have been destroyed by this exposure to evil, their innocence replaced by misjudgment and a distorted view of justice and life in general. One innocent in the narration is Boo Radley. Since he was prejudged as a madman and different from a normal man, he retreated to his house and never ventured outside. At the end of the story, Scout thought of him as a mockingbird, saying that hurting him is like “shooting a mockingbird. (Lee, p.304)” This clearly emphasizes that Boo Radley was an innocent man subjected to ridicule and prejudgment of people around him because they don’t understand him. When Maudie explains to Scout why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird, she emphasizes that “mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy…but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. (Lee, p.96)” This shows that innocence is a terrible thing to destroy because innocence is our grasp for the understanding of the good in life. Another symbolism of the mockingbird is victimization. In this symbolism, the mockingbird is used to show how the characters are victimized. At one point, after Tom Robinson was shot, Mr. Underwood compares his death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds. (Lee, p.247)” Herewith, it shows how pointless Tom Robinson’s death was. That even in the midst of all the evidence pointing towards Bob Ewell’s concocted story implicating Tom as the antagonist, he was still convicted. And since he was convicted, trying to escape his imprisonment, he was shot and killed. He was a victim of prejudgment and injustice by the people around him. He didn’t do anything wrong. But despite that, he was convicted and, eventually killed. And that is senseless in its course. Because of an unfair trial and prejudgment of people because of his physical appearance, he was convicted. And this conviction led to his death. Does it make sense killing an innocent person, when with killing him, you don’t prove a point but justifies how the society and the system is unfair to them. When instead of protecting them, they are being rejected and killed. Mockingbird in the story is also vulnerability. The last name of the main characters, Finch, means a small bird. This shows how young minds are vulnerable to the world outside of their protective worlds. That when they venture outside of their homes, they are faced with evils of every kind. And the only protection that can shield them and exploit their minds is the value of trust. Trust that there is good in every evil in the world. Killing mockingbirds then shows that the action is sinful, senseless and cruel. Since mockingbirds are associated to innocents, victims and vulnerable people, it shows that doing wrong to them is sinful, senseless and cruel. They don’t do anything bad so why hurt them. They are the victims and so they must be saved. Harming them would be senseless because there’s no good in it and you don’t prevent anything bad from doing it. Vulnerable people must be protected instead of harmed. They are already exposed and in danger so harming them would even bring them closer to their failure and downfall. These kinds of people are good, kind and peaceful and brings no harm to anyone. But because of prejudgment and prejudice, the evils presented in the narration, the good side is surpassed by the prejudice and judgments, like in Tom’s color, Boo’s unappearance and the old lady’s harsh words. Innocent and vulnerable people are harmed because they are different. Thus, the illustration of the evils of prejudice and prejudgment. As the story revolves around the existence and exposure to evil and the effects of it on people, it emphasizes how the innocence is being destroyed, how vulnerable people fall victims to injustice, prejudice and prejudgment, how people struggle to face the thought that everything is evil and end up understanding how things can be good and evil at the same time or end up being the evil they have been exposed to. Prejudgment of man caused a conviction of an innocent man, that eventually lead to his death. Scout’s struggle to understand the justice system is the struggle of many to face the unfair and harsh judgment of each person towards each other. Boo was also a sign of this struggle in prejudgment of men. He was thought of as a madman and so he retreated away from the world. And not being seen, just cooped up in his house without anyone seeing him, he was thought of more as dangerous and crazy. There was prejudice in their education, when their teacher criticizes Hitler of being prejudiced upon the Jews while she was reveling in her own prejudgment against her neighbors, the Blacks in town. And each time an innocent is exposed to evil of this kind, it causes a struggle. For Jem, he began to see things in a negative way. He became disillusioned and ended up being the destroyer of innocence that once destroyed his innocence. This was clearly shown in his chosen action to take to the old lady who said pretty harsh words about their family after his father defended Tom Robinson. He was quick to judge the old lady, even to the point of destroying her plants to emphasize that he wants to destroy her. But against this evilness there was hope as conveyed by Scout’s response to her exposure to evilness. she had learned that in each evil there is something good that exists within. The convicted Tom was an innocent man despite the prejudgment of his color. Jem and Scout’s experience with Boo showed him to be a sweet, gentle man who protects. And the old lady that Jem hated was a strong woman having to fight addiction till her last breath. And as Scout has learned, planted by her father and watered by her experiences, the only time that you will be able to see the good in people is when you look at the world through their eyes. Through this, you will learn that people are not inherently good nor evil. That both, evil and goodness, exist within us. It is just a matter of how you look at it, through their eyes or through yours. Just as how Scout saw and understood things in her life giving a rather hopeful ending to the dark plot. Because of its ingenuity and lessons taught about Southern life and the little girls, as it was a narration of a little girl (Adams), Lee’s work has gained popularity. And because of the style and the genre, and the controversial issues she tackled in her book, Lee’s work became a controversy and gave a contemporary national significance (Sullivan). Works Cited Adams, Phoebe. "Classic Review." Powells Books. 31 July 2007. Powells City of Books. 10 May 2009 . Dave, R.A. "Harper Lees Tragic Vision." Indian studies in American fiction‎. Delhi, India: Karnatak University, Macmillan, 1974. Lee, H. To Kill A Mockingbird. NY:Harper-Collins Publishers, 2006. Sullivan, Richard. "To Kill A Mockingbird." Chicago Sunday Times 17 July 1960. Read More