SPOILERS AHEAD

So, I’ve finally finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird, and I have to say, it was an astounding read. I actually finished reading this book on Halloween day which I thought was very interesting because as it turns out the story actually ended on that very same holiday. I can’t believe I missed out on this novel in high school. Speaking of which, we have a literary-rhetorical analysis essay coming up for this book, so I’ll use this post to fill up my ideas for what I might write about.

A big question about this novel leaves me to ponder, what exactly does the title To Kill A Mockingbird mean? The story lets us know that mockingbirds do nothing wrong and that we shouldn’t harm them. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Perhaps it’s a sin to kill them because the mockingbird portrays innocence. The two characters–Tom Robinson and Boo Radley–immediately come to mind when I look at the theme of innocence.

Tom Robinson and Boo Radley as seen in the movie.

Tom Robinson’s innocence of the crime he’s accused of makes him similar to the mockingbird. Tom is a man who shows compassion to those in need and is one of the reasons why he wanted to help out Mayella Ewell. This, unfortunately, leads to his unruly trial and ultimately his fate. Similarly, although he isn’t killed as Tom was, Boo lives shuddered up in his house because of how negatively the town perceives him. Everyone views him as some sort of deranged lunatic because of previous episodes during his childhood. As the story progresses, he makes kind, subtle gestures toward Scout and Jem and we later find that he isn’t anything like the what the rumors say. Not to mention he saves the children’s lives in the end. 

Tom Robinson and Boo Radley have a lot in common despite one man being black and the other white. Both of them have had minor altercations with the law, but this doesn’t stop them from showing kindness to others in the story. Both of them are also handicapped. From what we read in the book, Boo is found to be somewhat mentally unstable while Tom is physically damaged as a result of an accident leaving his left arm crippled. After doing a bit a research on the novel, I found that the title of the book could very well be a metaphor for both men in the story. As in this case, one mockingbird is killed and the other is forced to kill. 

Scout talking to Boo as seen in the movie

From these two characters, a number of themes for an analysis can be applied for further research. Themes such as disability, class, race, etc. A major theme, however, that comes to my mind is perspective. The porch scene at the end of the novel, where Scout learns an important lesson about understanding people by putting yourself in their shoes, demonstrates this really well. This is an intriguing moment for me in the novel because of how vast of an application it is to real-world scenarios in day to day life. Of course, this essay I’ll write will have to focus on the story of the novel only, but the thought still remains. Whoever reads this, wish me luck on my paper!