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The Symbolism of Innocence
The Symbolism of Innocence
What is a mockingbird? It asks nothing in return for its lovely song it gives to all others. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird the mockingbird symbolizes the idea of innocence. In this, then, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Those characters portrayed as mockingbirds throughout the book are crippled and hurt in some way, through the evils of the world. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are both mockingbirds, but while Tom has a disfigured arm and eventually dies for trying to help a white woman, Boo Radley is a more subtle mockingbird.
Especially in Scout, Jem, and Dill’s eyes, Boo is a figure of mystery and curiosity. He hasn’t been seen for decades, so the people around town tend to make assumptions of his lifestyle based on rumors and stories. “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels…that’s why his hands were bloodstained…his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (Lee 13) The children’s game of impersonating Boo and the goings on in the Radley house replaces a reasonable idea of him with a strange and childish one, which greatly alters their perception of him.
Most of Boo’s life has been spent inside his house. His is sheltered within his home, never having relations with the townsfolk aside from before his “imprisonment.” Other than his family and perhaps the town doctor, he has no real interaction with the outside world, and cannot know the evils that take place around his town. Physically, Boo is a middle-aged adult who spends his time inside and watching the children. Emotionally, Boo is an adolescent who has been accustomed to living in a cell and his experiences are mostly limited to the interior of his house. “They were white hands, sickly whit hands that had never seen the sun, so white that they stood out garishly against the dull cream wall…” (270). He is, in essence, caring and kind, but ignorant.
As a mockingbird figure, Boo is a subject of victimization. As a child he was intelligent, and he shows this to Jem and Scout by giving them his spelling bee medal he had won many years ago, when he was their age. As a result from a minor skirmish with the law, Boo’s father isolated him from the rest of the town, not allowing him to go to school and interact with his friends. This isolation is a likely cause to insanity, and although Boo is not led on as to be crazy, Harper Lee hints at his possible mental instability. The act of taking him away from society has socially and emotionally scarred Boo for life, a process that does not end when his father dies, as Boo’s brother takes over. His brother Nathan continues this cruelty to Boo when he fills in the knothole of the tree Boo uses to pass gifts to Jem and Scout, because the Radley family disapproves of his affection toward the children.
Toward the end of the novel, when Boo is forced to kill Jem’s and Scout’s attacker, Boo is nearly made more of a victim. By bringing his murder into the limelight, Boo would have been created into a carnival show of attention, something that would have severely hurt his emotional level of security. This mockingbird, harmed and nearly slaughtered in his innocence, is a true and ultimate symbol of good. He appears when he is needed, and now his innocence and kindness save the lives of two children, who learn to appreciate their shy neighbor. Scout talks about the book The Gray Ghost, but it truly can relate to Boo’s situation when she says, “‘An’ they chased him ‘n’ never could catch him ‘cause they didn’t know what he looked like, an’ Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things… Atticus, he was real nice…’
‘Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.’” (281). |
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That book is still one of my all time favorites. I can't even count how many times I've read it and still get something new out of it almost every time.
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This intel was contributed by doublet
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May, 2012
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