To Kill A Mockingbird Quote Analysis
It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird; a theme repeated often in this title. It means that taking away someone’s innocence or faith in life is bad, and prejudice can do just that. The disease of prejudice and how it makes some people act can kill someone’s innocence, Jem at one point loses all faith in the world and forms cynical views on life (304). Although having innocence is good, because of prejudice, because of hate, because of ignorance, one can lose faith in the world and start to realize that not everyone is as good as you think. While some choose to take this and progress with life or stand still is completely up to the person (304, 331). This title, To kill a mockingbird, fully embraces the idea of human nature and innocence, in the trial, Tom-an innocent man is still prejudiced against an ignorant jury despite not doing a thing. As he is going upcourt, he probably realizes that he wasn’t going to win the case and runs for it during the exercise time, the police shoot and killed him, (315) a completely innocent man, who did nothing wrong-killed. The police, in a sense, killed a mockingbird. All of the characters who have done nothing wrong like Scout, Jem, Tom, Boo, etc...have been affected by the disease of prejudice one way or another.
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Whether it be being subjected to a rumor (10) or getting almost killed (351-352), it’s almost ironic that the book's main message “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” has so many “mockingbirds” getting
abused. Maybe this is how life is, even the nicest of people still fall due to tragedies like Mrs. Maudie (91-92) and sometimes, even the worst of people can have good fortune (284).
The disease, prejudice, spreads through, in my opinion, ignorance. I believe if more people were educated academically and morally there would be less hate. This applies to both To Kill a Mockingbird and the real world. People aren’t born into this world with prejudice but learn it through others, if someone sees another treat someone with hate and that person isn’t educated on what is right or wrong then that person will most likely lead a path of blind hate. Ignorance leads to arrogance and soon that person treats others below them. In Maycomb, when they heard of Tom’s death they didn’t just put down him, but they put down his entire race as if his actions alone could represent everyone (322), this is behaviour of not just people in the town but in the real world as well. Automatically when we see a person, we form some sort of prejudice against them whether it be race, color, religion, gender, etc, and it’s simply society and its ignorant portrayals to blame. If people could be educated then surely we’d make better decisions, and surely if the town of Maycomb were more educated then they too would make better decisions. Another important skill is empathy. If you were in their shoes how would you feel, out yourself in the place of me, etc...Most people in this world have some form of kindness and everyone has a different story to tell. It’s not that hard really to be a nice person, it’s not that hard to have empathy, it’s not that hard to show compassion but sometimes, it can be without having the right education.
Whether it be being subjected to a rumor (10) or getting almost killed (351-352), it’s almost ironic that the book's main message “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” has so many “mockingbirds” getting
abused. Maybe this is how life is, even the nicest of people still fall due to tragedies like Mrs. Maudie (91-92) and sometimes, even the worst of people can have good fortune (284).
The disease, prejudice, spreads through, in my opinion, ignorance. I believe if more people were educated academically and morally there would be less hate. This applies to both To Kill a Mockingbird and the real world. People aren’t born into this world with prejudice but learn it through others, if someone sees another treat someone with hate and that person isn’t educated on what is right or wrong then that person will most likely lead a path of blind hate. Ignorance leads to arrogance and soon that person treats others below them. In Maycomb, when they heard of Tom’s death they didn’t just put down him, but they put down his entire race as if his actions alone could represent everyone (322), this is behaviour of not just people in the town but in the real world as well. Automatically when we see a person, we form some sort of prejudice against them whether it be race, color, religion, gender, etc, and it’s simply society and its ignorant portrayals to blame. If people could be educated then surely we’d make better decisions, and surely if the town of Maycomb were more educated then they too would make better decisions. Another important skill is empathy. If you were in their shoes how would you feel, out yourself in the place of me, etc...Most people in this world have some form of kindness and everyone has a different story to tell. It’s not that hard really to be a nice person, it’s not that hard to have empathy, it’s not that hard to show compassion but sometimes, it can be without having the right education.