Society’s Intolerance
Uploaded by guardianbooya on Dec 29, 2001
In society, people are symbolized as mockingbirds because of their differences. The mockingbird is an animal that only sings for us and to harm such a creature would be a sin. The mockingbird can represent people where they are harmed for doing nothing wrong. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a work of fiction which displays intolerance of differences. The book displays prejudice and intolerance in different ways to various people. This leads to them being symbolized as mockingbirds or innocent creatures that have done no harm. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the intolerance of differences results in Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell symbolizing the mockingbird.
Through the town’s intolerance, Boo Radley can be represented as a mockingbird. Arthur “Boo” Radley is a man that is misunderstood and is treated as something harmful to Maycomb. “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee 8). They blame Boo for their problems and tell stories about him even though they are untrue:
People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions (9).
Aside from his cruel father, Arthur has never harmed anyone and is a kind and caring person who saved the lives of the Finch children when Bob Ewell attacked them. “To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight - to me that’s a sin” (276). Arthur is used to things the way they are and bringing him into an unknown world would be like killing a mockingbird because he is not used to a regular society. Boo also leaves the children gifts in a knot-hole, mended Jem’s pants and gave Scout a blanket. Boo chooses to remain inside his house so that he does not have to deal with problems...