Mockingbird Motif

The book To Kill a Mockingbird has enhance my understanding the meaning of the word "motif" by giving multiple meanings to one motif. Such as the mockingbird motif. There were many people you could say were associated to the mockingbird motif such as Boo Radley or Tom Robinson. The mockingbird motif is a repeating meaning that represents innocence throughout the book. Then came the idea of "If you kill a mockingbird, it's a sin." So to kill something innocent, it would be like killing a mockingbird.

It's level of meaning is layed thickly in the book. Such as when Boo Radley came out of his house in the last few chapters of the book. Boo Radley seemed more innocent than Jem and Scout would've thought. The motif also came through after Tom Robinson's death, Mr. Underwood wrote that it was like senseless killing a songbird. The mockingbird motif added a great deal of symbolic meaning giving the book literal meaning and a deep meaning.