Can You Picture It?
"To Kill A Mockingbird"
Question: Discuss how Harper Lee uses literary devices effectively throughout the story.
Everybody likes a good story. From children to adults, most people have always enjoyed being sucked into an amazing continuation of events. What makes a good story a great one though? An amazing story brings out an emotional state in the reader throughout the theme. Knowing this effect, most authors use literary devices such as symbolism in order to capture our full attention due to the linked feeling we may have towards different situations leaving us completely speechless. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee effectively uses imagery, allegory and symbolism throughout the story in order bring out the main themes (racism and liberty) and help us readers understand the overall meaning of the story that takes place in Maycomb, a small town in Southern Alabama, in the late 1930's.
Firstly, Harper Lee uses imagery while talking about mockingbirds. Imagery is used in literature to create a descriptive language that evoques emotional responses. In the story, we may easily link mockingbirds to innocence. When you see a tiny white mockingbird singing gently on a breezy summer day, you wouldn't link it to harm now would you? In the story, mockingbirds are first mentioned when Jem and Scout receive their shiny new air riffles. Atticus does not have the time to teach them how to shoot, so he tells them to practice by themselves giving them only one rule to follow: that they must not kill any mockingbirds, that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. As Atticus had said,"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (p.90). When Scout had asked Miss Maudie about it, she had said "Your father's right," she said. "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." (p.90). On the other hand, the link between symbolism and innocence can be pushed to an even further point. Tom Robinson, a black man in the story, was falsely accused of raping a young white girl named Mayella Ewell. Tom Robinson's fate is very dramatic, because even if he was proven innocent by Atticus, he gets thrown in jail because a black man's word is worthless compared to a white girl's. While trying to escape, he gets shot and dies. Tom Robinson death is unfair because he is innocent. Killing Tom is like killing a mockingbird since they are both peaceful creatures who only want to do good in life.
Secondly, Harper Lee also uses allegory in the story when she talks about the Radley Place. According to the Guide to Literary Terms (http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/allegory), "Allegory is an extended metaphor in which a person, abstract idea, or event stands for itself and for something else." In other words, authors use allegory in order to bring out the subtle meaning of a concept that comes around every now and then in a story. In "To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee uses allegory during the whole story to bring out the darkness and isolation of the Radley Place. Many of the villagers in Maycomb are terrified of the Radley Place. It is mentioned that "The Maycomb school grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children: Radley pecans would kill you. A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked " (p.9). Other parts in the story explain that the Radley Place held its horrible reputation due to its main resident: Boo Radley, described as a "malevolent phantom". Beyond all this, allegory is also used throughout the entire story to demonstrate how closed the residents of Maycomb are towards intruders or people that don't belong. Consequently, the Radley Place's allegory is present to show how this southern Alabama population keep to themselves.
Thirdly, the symbolism behind the rabid dog presents to the reader how Scout perceives her father. Symbols are often used in literature to give a meaning to a story beyond what is written. The first time we hear about the mad dog is when Atticus has to pull the trigger and kill it because nobody else wants to. After this episode, Scout has several flashbacks about it. These following two are the most important ones. She has the first one when she sees her father, Atticus, standing alone in front of the jail while a lynch mob wants to attack Tom Robinson. That night, she sees her father as the only one who has the courage to defend Tom Robinson, as he was when he shot the dog. She has her second one when she's at the trial, a bit drowsy, watching her father leaving the court. At this point, we know that Tom Robinson is declared guilty by the judges. It goes like this: " it was like watching Atticus walk into the street, raise a rifle to his shoulder and pull the trigger, but watching all the time knowing that the gun was empty." (p.211) Again, she thinks that her father is the only one who would stand up for a black man, even if he knows that he won't win. She refers to the episode of the dog, but this time adding that he can't do anything because "the gun was empty". Therefore, the mad dog represents something evil that no one wants AND has the courage to face, like racism, the story’s main theme. Atticus is the single being in the town who had the braveness to "shoot the dog".
In conclusion, we may say that Harper Lee's exquisite use of literary devices are a great way of bringing out an emotional response from readers and helps bring out the main themes of the story helping us to understand the lives of the southern Alabama population around 1935.
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Secondly, Harper Lee also uses allegory in the story when she talks about the Radley Place. According to the Guide to Literary Terms (http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/allegory), "Allegory is an extended metaphor in which a person, abstract idea, or event stands for itself and for something else." In other words, authors use allegory in order to bring out the subtle meaning of a concept that comes around every now and then in a story. In "To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee uses allegory during the whole story to bring out the darkness and isolation of the Radley Place. Many of the villagers in Maycomb are terrified of the Radley Place. It is mentioned that "The Maycomb school grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children: Radley pecans would kill you. A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked " (p.9). Other parts in the story explain that the Radley Place held its horrible reputation due to its main resident: Boo Radley, described as a "malevolent phantom". Beyond all this, allegory is also used throughout the entire story to demonstrate how closed the residents of Maycomb are towards intruders or people that don't belong. Consequently, the Radley Place's allegory is present to show how this southern Alabama population keep to themselves.
Thirdly, the symbolism behind the rabid dog presents to the reader how Scout perceives her father. Symbols are often used in literature to give a meaning to a story beyond what is written. The first time we hear about the mad dog is when Atticus has to pull the trigger and kill it because nobody else wants to. After this episode, Scout has several flashbacks about it. These following two are the most important ones. She has the first one when she sees her father, Atticus, standing alone in front of the jail while a lynch mob wants to attack Tom Robinson. That night, she sees her father as the only one who has the courage to defend Tom Robinson, as he was when he shot the dog. She has her second one when she's at the trial, a bit drowsy, watching her father leaving the court. At this point, we know that Tom Robinson is declared guilty by the judges. It goes like this: " it was like watching Atticus walk into the street, raise a rifle to his shoulder and pull the trigger, but watching all the time knowing that the gun was empty." (p.211) Again, she thinks that her father is the only one who would stand up for a black man, even if he knows that he won't win. She refers to the episode of the dog, but this time adding that he can't do anything because "the gun was empty". Therefore, the mad dog represents something evil that no one wants AND has the courage to face, like racism, the story’s main theme. Atticus is the single being in the town who had the braveness to "shoot the dog".
In conclusion, we may say that Harper Lee's exquisite use of literary devices are a great way of bringing out an emotional response from readers and helps bring out the main themes of the story helping us to understand the lives of the southern Alabama population around 1935.
Words: 999
