spark notea to kill a mocking bird quotes chaoter 2

When I think of To Kill a Mockingbird, the bird that comes to mind is not a mockingbird at all. I wonder what he might tell us that our narrator, young Scout, does not know. I hope Tom wasn't meant to be the mockingbird Miss Maudie describes to Scout because, consciously or subconsciously, her words evoke old black minstrel stereotypes depicting African Americans as happy-go-lucky and singing a song without a care in the world. Critics have said Lee did not give the book's black characters enough agency or backstory. Sadly, we don't learn that much about his life beyond the trial. As a black man in depression-era Alabama, I'm sure Tom could teach me quite a bit. Is Tom Robinson, the black man accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, a bird as well? While Tom is innocent, I do not think of him as having the same innocence as the children or Boo. Like mockingbirds, they are also songbirds. Finch, the last name of Scout, Jem, and Atticus, is a small bird. So, who is the symbolic mockingbird? Later in the book, Scout explains to Atticus that hurting their reclusive neighbor Boo Radley would be 'sort of like shootin' a mockingbird.' Mockingbirds are not the only birds in the book. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

'Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy…but sing their hearts out for us. ''Remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. The longest quotation about the book's title appears in Chapter 10, when Scout explains: Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence.' In this story of innocence destroyed by evil, the 'mockingbird' comes to represent the idea of innocence. SparkNotes, an online study site, explains, 'The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot, but it carries a great deal of symbolic weight in the book. I always found the kids in the book far more interesting. I'm happy she didn't stick with that one. I've read that To Kill a Mockingbird wasn't Harper Lee's first choice. As a reader, I came to appreciate the dual narrative of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, and how it lent itself to reflections on both the universal and the particular ways we think about race and the “other.” One thing, however, continued to elude me: the book’s title. Scout and Atticus on the porch talking about the upcoming trial. I had to speed up.Īs I got older and learned more, different scenes stuck. At first I noticed it in small ways: Walking home from friends’ houses in the gloaming I'd pass a yard filled with junk or overgrown grass, and I'd just know that Boo Radley lived there. I suppose my teacher believed that watching someone else's vision of the book was safer than having us talk about the issues of race, class, discrimination, and justice it might raise during the heyday of desegregation battles in neighboring Boston.ĭespite my teacher's neglect, To Kill a Mockingbird stuck with me. The most memorable assignment my teacher gave us was to watch the 1962 film version on one of the local television stations. Memories are tricky, but as I recall we never talked about the title, or much else, in the book. The first time I read To Kill a Mockingbird was as a student in the 8th grade. The words become part of a series, like 'bite the dust' or 'have a blast.' The title of Harper Lee's 1960 classic To Kill a Mockingbird is like that for me, despite its profound impact on the way I think about the world. There are phrases you hear so often that they begin to lose their meaning.

Spark notea to kill a mocking bird quotes chaoter 2