There are phrases you hear so often that they begin to lose their meaning.

The words become part

of a series, like "bite the dust" or "have a blast." The title of Harper Lee's 1960 classic To Kill a
Mockingbird is like that for me, despite its profound impact on the way I think about the world.

got older and learned more, different scenes stuck. Scout confronting the lynch mob. Scout and
Atticus on the porch talking about the upcoming trial. Jem’s outrage after the verdict. As a
reader, I came to appreciate the dual narrative of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, and how it lent
itself to reflections on both the universal and the particular ways we think about race and the
“other.” explains, "The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot,
but it carries a great deal of symbolic weight in the book. In this story of innocence destroyed by
evil, the 'mockingbird' comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to
destroy innocence."

The longest quotation about the book's title appears in Chapter 10, when Scout explains:

"'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…
but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

So, who is the symbolic mockingbird? Later in the book, Scout explains to Atticus that hurting
their reclusive neighbor Boo Radley would be "sort of like shootin' a mockingbird."
Mockingbirds are not the only birds in the book. Finch, the last name of Scout, Jem, and Atticus,
is a small bird. Like mockingbirds, they are also songbirds.

Is Tom Robinson, the black man accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, a bird as well?
While Tom is innocent, I do not think of him as having the same innocence as the children or
Boo. As a black man in depression-era Alabama, I'm sure Tom could teach me quite a bit. Sadly,
we don't learn that much about his life beyond the trial. Critics have said Lee did not give the
book's black characters enough agency or backstory. I hope Tom wasn't meant to be the
mockingbird Miss Maudie describes to Scout because, consciously or subconsciously, her words
evoke old black minstrel stereotypes depicting African Americans as happy-go-lucky and
singing a song without a care in the world. The Tom I imagine isn't a stereotype. He lives a full
life. I wonder what he might tell us that our narrator, young Scout, does not know.

When I think of To Kill a Mockingbird, the bird that comes to mind is not a mockingbird at all. It
is the proverbial canary in the coal mine (another one of those phrases we don't think about very
much). The treatment of Tom and Boo as they face the spoken and unspoken dictates of
Maycomb gives life to the stock image of the canary. These two canaries expose the fragility of
democracy when prejudice, myth, and misinformation go unchecked.
In the years since its publication, the title "To Kill a Mockingbird" has developed a meaning that
goes beyond its internal logic. For many readers, the book and its characters live with them as
intimates.

First

To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during 1933–1935. These years place
the events of the novel squarely within two important periods of American history: the Great
Depression and the Jim Crow era. The Great Depression is reflected in the poverty that affects all
of the residents of Maycomb. Even the Finches, who are objectively better off than many of the
other citizens in the area, are ultimately poor and living within the means available to them. The
years depicted in the novel also fall within the much longer period of time that modern historians
often refer to as the Jim Crow era. This term describes the time from the late 19th century until
the mid-1960s when black people in the United States could no longer be held in slavery, but
where laws limited the social, political, and economic possibilities available to black citizens.
We should remember that when Harper Lee wrote the novel in the late 1950s, the Great
Depression was over, but Jim Crow laws were still present in substantial portions of the
American South.

The fictional town of Maycomb, in the fictional Maycomb County, seems intended not to
represent an exact location in the real world, but a kind of small Southern town that existed in the
1930s. Scout describes the town as old, tired, and suffocating. In addition to being literally
appropriate, these descriptions also apply to more subtle social aspects of the town. The town is
burdened, Atticus might say diseased, by social prejudices in general, and racism in particular.
Maycomb is also sharply geographically divided along class lines. While more prosperous
families like the Finches live in large houses close to the center of town, the Ewells live in a
ramshackle cabin near the dump, out of sight of the rest of the town except at Christmas, when
people drive their trees and trash to the dump. The only other dwellings in this area are the
cabins where black families live, an indication that the town is both racially and economically
segregated. The Ewells lack basic necessities like running water and insulation, and they
frequently forage in the dump for food. “Every town the size of the Maycomb had families like
the Ewells,” Scout says, implying that the economic inequality is endemic to the region.
second

The setting relates to the characters because the setting is a character Scout describes Maycomb
as if it too is a character.  She says: “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when
I first knew it” (Ch 1, p. 5).  This tired town is a... The setting relates to the characters because
the setting is a character Scout describes Maycomb as if it too is a character.  She says:
“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it” (Ch 1, p. 5).   This
tired town is a perfect backdrop for a dramatic story.  The story taking place in a small down
during the Great Depression in the crucible of the Deep South allows for some interesting
characters and events.  As the enotes Historical Context page notes, "the South, which was still
steeped in its agricultural traditions, was hit hard by the Great Depression" (enotes historical
context).   The characters interact with the setting, because these characters could really only
exist in this setting.  For example, Atticus Finch defends his town against racism.  Boo Radley is
victimized by the town.  The town comes out in full force to save Miss Maudie’s house from the
fire.  The town attends the trial.  The town gossips.  The town grieves.  In each case, the various
members of the town are grouped together as one character. For instance, consider the story of
young Arthur Radley and his gang that terrorized that town.

The town decided something had to be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one
of them was, and he was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came
before the probate judge on charges. (ch 1, p. 10).

This is another example of the town acting as one, or being described as one.  Although the town
is acting in a positive way here, this is not always the case.  The town also harbors prejudice and
racism. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up,
is something I don’t pretend to understand… I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their
answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough… (p. 91) So just as the
town provides a setting that produces unique characters, the setting is a character in itself.