The title To kill a mockingbird is in a way a symbol of almost the entire book. From part 2 on Maycomb County and its people were all engulfed in the Tom Robinson rape trial. As Atticus and Miss Maudie said “it`s a sin to kill a mockingbird” and “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(p. 119) Tom Robinson can be seen as a mocking bird in the sense that he has never done anything to purposely hurt anyone, his only sin was that he tried to help people out of the kindness of his heart.
Setting:
The story takes place in Maycomb County Alabama in the 1930`s. Maycomb is the typical southern town, small square houses, everybody knows everybody, a feeling of hominess, only one of everything (post office, grocery store, school etc.) Maycomb County is a bit of a special case because it is rather far from any other towns. When Maycomb was founded it was built a very long way upstream from the ocean on a small river which was unusual back in the day considering boat was the main mode of transportation then. Maycomb is a kind of boring uneventful town the most interesting thing to happen is what Miss Stephanie can manage to come up with and gossip about. The setting of Maycomb county relates to the main theme of the book in the way that
Mood:
In the first part of to kill a mocking bird Maycomb County is portrayed as a small, quiet southern town, nothing interesting ever happens. The town has a naïve, innocent, immature and mischievous feel to it and everyone mostly keeps to themselves and you never really know much about anyone, except for a few characters. In the second part however everything and everyone changes. Once the Tom Robinson case comes to light you can say that everyone shows their true colors and who they really are deep down inside. The mood in the air shifts from nice and quiet to harsh, dangerous and hostile, every person in Maycomb is rattled to the bone with this case it will never be the same like it was before. Everyone loses their innocents
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