Mockingbird Motif

At first I thought that motif was just another one of those terms we would have to know for the occasional vocab test. I didn't think it would actually be used a ton in novels, but I was very surprised. In To Kill a Mockingbird it is used to describe characters, such as Boo Radley or Tom Robinson. It also helps show themes such as racism.

A mockingbird is an innocent bird that just sings songs. When Jem and Scout get their guns, Atticus and Ms. Maudie tell them that it a sin to kill the birds, because they are just happy and cheerful. This is used as a motif and helps show the theme of racism. In the Tom Robinson case, Tom is clearly proven not guilty, so he is like an innocent mockingbird. All 9 jury members voted Tom to be guilty, giving him the death penalty, so that is like killing a mockingbird. The jury members were racist against blacks, so that is why they voted him to be guilty. Several other themes that the mockingbird motif is present in is justice vs. injustice, prejudice, and compassion. The motif of killing a mockingbird is used in compassion with Boo Radly when Heck Tate says that Mr. Ewell fell on his knife, not that Boo stabbed him. This is compassionate because he sees the mockingbird in Boo and wants to let him do whatever he wants.

Character Symbolism~ Judge Taylor

The symbol I chose for Judge Taylor is a gavel, because judges use gavels to restore order in the courtroom, and to close a court session.

life lessons

My dad really inspires me in many ways, and he has many sayings that motivate me, but one that I hear a lot is "Alex, go play your bassoon!" This probably sounds pretty dumb, but if he wasn't there to keep telling me to practice I wouldn't be any good, because I'm often too lazy to practice on my own.

This is pretty important for me because it doesn't only apply to me playing my bassoon, but also is sort of saying that if I don't work at anything or put any effort into anything, I'll never succeed at life. So I kind of think of "go play your bassoon" any time I don't feel studying or something.