To Kill a Mockingbird
Symbolism
Learning Intentions
• To be aware of symbolism and understand its
meaning
• To be able to recognise its use and effect in
the novel
• To be able to demonstrate this awareness in a
critical essay
Symbolism - Definition
• Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and
colours used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.
Symbolism is present in society in
many forms:
•
• Traffic symbols
• Religion
Activity: Work with your partner and try to think of at least three
examples of how symbols are used in society.
Symbolism in society - Feedback
1.
2.
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4.
5.
Literary Symbolism
• Symbolism is used in literature to invest the
text with a deeper meaning.
For example
1. Blood is used in “Macbeth to symbolise” guilt
2. The Conch shell is used in “Lord of the Flies”
to symbolise civilisation and order on the
island.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” and Symbolism
• Symbolism in “To Kill a Mockingbird” is used
frequently, it is subtle and invests the text
with greater meaning and significance.
• Activity – Work with your partner, can you
remember the uses of symbolism that we
have studied so far in “To Kill a Mocking Bird.”
Examples of Symbolism from “To Kill a
Mockingbird”
1.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Mockingbird
Oak tree at the Radley place
The Courthouse
The Snowman
Roly Poly
Gifts in the tree
Mad dog
Fire at Miss Maudies
Sun being high in the sky.
Mocking Bird
• What does it
symbolise?
• Who are the symbolic
mockingbirds in the
novel?
• Why are they
considered to be
mockingbirds?
• Mockingbirds first appear when Jem and Scout
are learning how to use their shiny new air rifles.
Atticus won’t teach them how to shoot, but he
does give them one rule to follow:
“Atticus said to Jem one day, "I'd rather you shot
at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go
after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you
can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a
mockingbird.“”
• “That was the only time I ever heard Atticus
say it was a sin to do something, and I asked
Miss Maudie about it.”
“"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. That's why it's
a sin to kill a mockingbird.“”
• After Tom Robinson is shot, Mr. Underwood
compares his death to:
“the senseless slaughter of songbirds,”
• And we will find out at the end of the book
Scout understands that hurting Boo Radley
would be like:
“shootin’ a mockingbird.”
“The Courthouse sagged in the
square”
• What does the
courthouse and its
condition symbolise
here?
The Oak Tree
• In Ch4 What does the
Oak Tree and its roots
at the Radley place
represent?
• Why is the Oak Tree
particularly significant
in the novel?
• We will see how what
the Oak Tree represents
changes at the end of
the novel.
Two live oaks stood at the edge of the Radley Lot; their
roots reached out into the side-road and made it
bumpy.”
• The tree roots are becoming more prominent and
have begun to disrupt the road. There’s a connection
between the roots spreading out and Boo trying to
reach out and make contact with the community.
• Boo Radley is trying to reach out to the community
and feel less isolated.
• The children are making more and more significant
contact with Boo Radley and it becomes increasingly
dangerous. It disrupts the community as Boo Radley
emerges
Sun at noon
• In Ch5 When the
children are playing the
game “One Man’s
Family” (in which they
pretended to be the
Radleys) we are told
that “the sun said
twelve noon”
• What did this
symbolise?
Solo Activity
• Using the notes you have taken write a paragraph in
formal critical essay style about Harper Lee’s use of
symbolism in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Start with:
Lee uses subtle symbolism throughout the novel to
invest the text with greater meaning and to highlight
the main themes...
• To be completed and handed in for next Monday 15th November.