Salem Witch Trials In To Kill A Mockingbird

Between 1692 and 1693, twenty innocent citizens’ lost their lives in one community. These people were put on trial and given the choice to plead guilty or they die trying to prove their innocence. These trials were the Salem Witch Trials. Convicting those innocent citizens can be viewed as killing a mockingbird; mockingbirds are innocent and they don’t harm anyone. This is exactly what Harper Lee showed in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee uses characters that have had innocence stripped from them and indirectly compares them to a mockingbird. The mockingbird was used as a symbol of innocence they don’t harm anyone in anyway. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses the mockingbird as a symbol of innocence to compare the corruption of society forced upon Tom Robinson, Jeremy Finch, and Arthur Radley to killing a mockingbird.
Atticus explains to Jem and Scout to “shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (90). Scout was bewildered by what he told them. She didn’t comprehend why it was a sin to kill a mockingbird, so she went to their neighbor to ask Mrs. Maudie what he meant. Miss Maudie explained that mockingbirds “don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy” (90). After both explanations, Scout understands why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. A mockingbird is nothing other than an innocent bird. They create music for people to appreciate and they also eat pests. Killing a mockingbird is comparable to destroying innocence