Why is the Novel called To Kill a Mockingbird.

Why is the Novel called “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

In order for us to understand the reason why the novel is called “To Kill a Mockingbird”, we need to take into account what the title actually means. The mockingbird is a type of finch, and it gets its name from its ability to make sounds that mimic other animals. This bird is not a predator and all it does is to make music.

In the book the references made to the mockingbird are ones of great significance. The first time we come across this in the novel is when Atticus Finch says to his son Jem Finch, “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” The children, Jem and his sister Scout do not, at first, understand the importance of this advice. They decide to ask their neighbour, and also good friend, Miss. Maudie about it. She starts off with “Your father’s right,” and this is not the only time in the novel when she is in agreement with Atticus’ views. She is almost a mother figure to the children along with Calpurnia, who is their cook, and she reinforces Atticus’ philosophy. In this instance what she tells the children about mockingbirds, reinforces Atticus’ views. She says:

“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.”

At this point the writer is conveying to us that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, the reason being that it does not do anything but make music. Mockingbirds are portrayed as the epitome of innocence. The killing of an innocent is always seen as a horrendous crime in any age and any time. As we read further into the book we are made more aware of the fact that the two characters Tom Robinson and Arthur (Boo) Radley possess the same traits as a mocking bird. It is only towards the end of the novel that the children make the connection.

One of the main and most significant characters in the whole book is, of course Atticus Finch. He is the father of Jem and Scout (who narrates the story), and he is also a lawyer in Maycomb. Atticus is a man with very strong views and beliefs and he looks at everyone and tries to understand whom they are and where they are coming from. He aims to understand people as if he were inside them and this is reflected in his words to scout ,“ You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." He is subtly instructing the children about some fundamental lessons in life

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Atticus has a firm sense of self-respect and pride and he is the same person in public as he is at home. It is because of his sense of pride, that Atticus feels a responsibility to take on Tom Robinson’s case and make sure that he gets a fair trial. He says to Scout, when she asks him why he took the case, “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” In other words, He would feel like a hypocrite if he did not take on the case. Atticus is perhaps one of the only characters in the novel who is not racially prejudiced in any way. He has the astuteness to assess people’s characters by looking beyond the colour of their skin. He is tolerant of all people, which was a rare and noble trait in a person, in the society in Maycomb. We see evidence of this when he defends Tom Robinson in court. He makes Calpurnia, very much a part of the family and treats her with much respect and liking. His goodness is reflected in that he helps out Mr. Cunningham but is not concerned when the latter is not able to pay him back in money.

When we take all this into account we can see that Atticus is almost the epitome of goodness and that in the novel he rarely falters. I feel that Harper Lee (the author) specifically set out to portray Atticus as a very good person so that people would respect him and hopefully relate to him more and more as the novel progressed. I also feel that Harper Lee wanted to change people’s minds, by making them sympathise with Atticus, and making them more open-minded so that they themselves would become more tolerant.

Tom Robinson, who is portrayed as a mockingbird figure in the novel, is a black man who is accused of raping a white girl. The girl in question is Mayella Ewell. She comes from an extremely poor white family. Her father Robert Ewell has no job, but spends whatever money he gets, on whiskey. He does not care about his many children and leaves their upbringing to his eldest daughter, Mayella. Tom helps Mayella with some chores without payment as he can clearly see that she lacks support and love from her family. It is because she lacks these things that she tries to kiss Tom. Her father sees her, and abuses her quite badly.

In the courtroom Atticus proves to everyone that Tom is innocent by showing everyone that Tom’s left arm is crippled and that he could not have possibly been the one who abused her. During the trial everyone is amazed when Tom admits to feeling sorry for Mayella. He immediately realises his mistake. This is because in society then, a white person would always be superior to a black person, irrespective of age or gender. Even though Tom Robinson’s innocence is proven, he still looses. The simple reason being that he was black. Tom has to pay severely for society’s stereotypical prejudice that has existed for many years. Atticus knows what the outcome of the case will be, his explanation being that people just were not ready to start thinking so ahead.

After the trial when Tom Robinson is put into prison, he looses all hope and tries to escape. Sadly in the process the prison guards shoot him. Atticus takes it upon himself to tell Tom’s widow the news. By reading the novel, when we come across the character of Tom Robinson, all we can see is a very honest, kind and law abiding man to whom a great injustice has been done. When looking at the title of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” we can see that this is exactly what was done. Tom Robinson was an innocent man who was killed brutally. His only fault was that he “had the unmitigated temerity to “feel sorry” for a white woman.” So answering the question this is the reason that the novel is called “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Arthur Radley also known as Boo is another character in the novel that we associate with the idea of being a mockingbird figure. Due to his childhood wrongdoings he is locked away in his house, by his parents, therefore deprived of having any kind of normal life. Since Boo stays out of everyone’s sight for several years many people have grown to fear him. The children particularly Dill seems to be fascinated by him. Boo Radley is very much the focus of the children’s conversations. However, he is not only, mocked by the children as some elder people like Miss Stephanie Crawford also spread malicious gossip about him. Boo is described as a “malevolent phantom” and so it is not surprising when all the children fear him as well, believing that pecans which came from a tree in the Radley yard would kill you. As the novel furthers, we are given an insight into Boo Radley’s character and that he is simply misunderstood. For he is not dangerous and unpleasant but actually lonely and kind. We see this when he leave gifts for Jem and Scout in the tree outside his house they are two dolls carved out of soap in the likeness of Jem and Scout. There is also the time when Jem’s trousers get caught in the Radley fence, so he is forced to leave them there. However when he goes back to get them he finds them mended (not very well) and laid out on the fence as though they were “waiting” for him. All these things show that Boo is a very kind and caring person.

Towards the end we are told that it was Boo who saved the children’s lives from Robert Ewell’s vicious attack. This shows how Boo is being made a prisoner in his own home, for no reason, as he isn’t doing anything wrong. He is very much another mockingbird figure as even though he did some bad things in his youth, his parents have committed an even greater crime by condemning him to a life of imprisonment. It is scout who in the end makes the connection between Boo Radley and the idea of him being a mocking bird. This reflects on Atticus as being a good father as his children do pay attention to him and will follow his good example.

The novel is called “To Kill a Mockingbird,” because the whole plot is centred on the trial of Tom Robinson, who is a mockingbird figure who is killed. Boo Radley is also another mockingbird figure as he has also had a profound injustice done to him, in confining him to the house forever. The similarity between these two characters is that both are discriminated against by the society that they live in.

The main ongoing theme in the novel is of course prejudice and discrimination, racial discrimination in particular. One of the fiercest actions of racism in the novel is when a mob of people attack the jailhouse to prevent Tom Robinson from even getting a trial.

Racism came about at this point in history because Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery and this meant that black people were given a certain amount of status. White people saw black people as major competition for work, as the novel was set during the depression and, work was hard to come by. In Maycomb we know about certain people’s views which could be classed as racist; for example everybody’s opinion of Dolphus Raymond who is a white man who lives with a black woman, Aunt Alexandra’s disapproval of Calpurnia and perhaps most importantly the black and white segregation. Due to the abolition of slavery there was not much of a distinction between the Ewells who were labelled as “White Trash” and the black people. So clearly class prejudice is somehow tied up with racial prejudice. However there was enough of a distinction to make the trial unfair, this could have been due to the fact that people were afraid of change. For example if Tom Robinson was found innocent by the jury then there would have been an enormous change to the general social hierarchy.

In the end the whole point that the novel is trying convey is about tolerance and understanding. It is due to a lack of these things that we get prejudice and discrimination of any kind occurs, whether it is racial or because of gender. If people were tolerant of other people then these problems would not even arise. Atticus is right when he tells scout that to truly understand a person you need to walk in their shoes. By doing this you will understand the person and so will be able to tolerate the person without fearing them because they are different to yourself. Atticus is not the only person in this novel who is able to think ahead. We know that people like Miss Maudie and Heck Tate, the sheriff, are also able to think beyond racial lines. We have come a long way from then, in establishing equality, and yet we still have a long way to go in achieving the perfect world.