To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, still stands as undoubtedly one of the most well known novels in the world. Set in their home town of Maycomb, Alabama, the Finch family leads a simple life. Atticus, father of Jem and Jean Louise, also known as Scout, works as a local lawyer. Because Alabama in the 1930’s had a racist overtone, Atticus grew controversial in the eyes of the townspeople when he accepted the state’s order for him to defend a black man in court for the alleged rape of a white nineteen year-old girl in the community. Perhaps the most profound quote from the book also acts as the overarching theme of the whole story: “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee, 99). Atticus explains to his children that before either of them go out to hunt, they must not shoot the mockingbirds. These birds are nothing but kind, and they deserve respect. He also points out to Scout and Jem that mockingbirds don't even eat people’s crops when he says, “They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs” (Lee, 100). To truly understand what makes a  mockingbird, readers must look past the literal, and grasp what Harper Lee meant when she coined the term “Mockingbird” in a metaphorical sense.

What is a mockingbird? Harper Lee takes this gentle and kind creature and uses it as a metaphor for a misunderstood or prejudiced person. Many characters in the novel in some way portray a mockingbird. Mrs. Dubose, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson represent some of the most notable mockingbirds. Each of the listed characters experience heavy prejudice from the townspeople of Maycomb County. This goes on partly due to the racism in Alabama, as well as the fact that the people of Maycomb thoroughly enjoy gossip and conspiring rumors. Atticus Finch offers a wise piece of advice to his children to help them see things from a different perspective, “If you can learn a simple trick,.. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view..until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee, 33). This metaphor acts as a way for Atticus to teach his children the importance of seeing things from others point of view.

Mrs. Lafayette Dubose, an old neighbor of the Finches, represents one of the most hidden mockingbirds in the novel. Scout speaks on behalf of the whole town of Maycomb when she says, “...Neighborhood opinion was unanimous that Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old woman who ever lived” (Lee, 39). Mrs. Dubose constantly yells crude remarks at Jem and Scout every time they walk past her home, making fun of the kids, and sometimes their father too. As the trial arises, this worsens. One summer afternoon, just days before Atticus’s big court case defending Tom Robinson, Scout and Jem walk past Mrs. Dubose’s house and she screams, “Your father’s no better than the n— and trash he works for” (Lee, 113). This validly upsets Scout and Jem that someone could talk so terribly about their kind father. This makes Jem so angry, that he rips up the camellias in Mrs. Dubose’s yard. Still furious, Jem and Scout come home and after hearing what had happened, Atticus says, “Jem, she’s old and ill” (Lee, 116). Although old age doesn't make up for cruelty, this does start to show readers that there may be something else going on with Mrs. Dubose. Indeed, later in the story, Mrs. Dubose passes away and Atticus explains to Jem and Scout the reason for her unusual behavior, “Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict...She took it as a painkiller for years” (Lee, 123). The kids now understand that Mrs. Dubose’s remarks were not personal, and that she had been truly going through a hard time. Mrs. Lafayette Dubose accurately embodies a mockingbird in that Jem and Scout dismiss her so quickly without taking into account what may be going on behind closed doors. 

Arthur Radley, mostly known as Boo Radley, acts as yet another profound mockingbird. Townspeople gossip about Boo, saying that as a teen he led a violent gang, and according to rumor, Boo stabbed his father with scissors and was put in jail for 2 years. When Scout starts talking about Boo Radley’s story, she says, “From the day Mr. Radley took Arthur home, people said the house died” (Lee, 13). Not only does Boo never leave the house, but the Radley’s keep the window shutters of their home constantly closed. Intrigued, Scout notes, “The shutters and doors of the Radley house were always closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb's ways” (Lee, 10) Although Jem and Scout had never actually seen Boo, they still had a strong preconceived idea of him. They were so scared of Boo that neither Jem nor Scout would go near the Radley home. Jem tells Scout, “If Dill wanted to get killed, all he had to do was go up and knock on the front door” (Lee, 14). Atticus sees his children’s stubbornness and prejudice with their false narrative of Boo, so he assures them, “I remember Aurthor Radley when he was a boy. He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what folks said he did” (Lee, 51).  Atticus explains Boo’s true innocence to Scout and Jem. Only when Jem and Scout see an act of kindness from Boo, they start to open their minds to the possibility that he may have a friendly and gentle soul after all. One night Jem, Scout, and their friend Dill go out, trying to spy on the Radley family, when all of the sudden Jem’s pants get stuck on the Radley’s gate, causing him to take them off, abandoning them there, leaving him cold in his underwear. A few days later when he goes to retrieve the pants, he sees something miraculous. He shares this astonishing discovery with Scout and says, “When I went back for my breeches- they were all in a tangle when I was gettin’ out of ‘em,.. When I went back they were folded across the fence…They’d been sewed up” (Lee, 64).  Jem found that his pants had been sewed up by Boo Radley! At the end of the novel Scout realizes that Boo had not been the monster that she thought he had been. As Jem and Scout walk back from the costume pageant, they start to hear noises, the next thing they know, they start running for their lives from someone chasing them. At one point during this chase, Scout falls down and without delay, someone whom she mistakes for Jem picks her up and carries her the rest of the way to the Finch home. Scout soon finds out that her mystery hero had been none other than Mr. Arthur Radley. Scout had been stunned, as she had never seen Boo’s face prior to this wacky encounter. By the end of this bizarre night, Scout truly understands how much she and her brother misunderstand Boo. Scout shares this revelation with Atticus, “Atticus, he was real nice,” to which Atticus responds, “Most people are,  Scout, when you finally see them” (Lee, 309). Throughout this story, Scout and Jem gradually understand that perhaps Boo Radley suffers from a sort of social anxiety or some other social challenge. Regardless of Boo’s potential medical diagnosis, Arthur Radley, in addition to the many other mockingbirds in this novel, gets misjudged and mistreated by his very own neighbors. Having so many mockingbirds woven throughout this story only adds to the powerful message of this book.

The book's main mockingbird, Tom Robinson, unlike Boo Radley, never gets his clarifying ending. Tom, a 26 year-old black man accused of raping a nineteen year-old girl in the community, Mayella Ewell, had been doomed from the moment he entered the trial. During the trial, Atticus brought up some highly strong, although circumstantial, evidence defending his defendant, Tom. Mr Ewell, Mayella’s father, most likely caused the bruises on her body as he had been known to be a drunk as well as an abusive father. No matter how much evidence, circumstantial or not, Tom had no chance. Like Atticus says, “In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life” (Lee, 243). Despite Alabama’s racist culture, Mr. Link Deas, a white farm owner who Tom works for, stands  up for him, declaring this strong statement in the courtroom: “I just want the whole lot of you to know one thing. That boy’s worked for me eight years an’ I aint had a speck o’ trouble outa him. Not a speck” (Lee, 215). This shows that not all white men in Maycomb acted  wickedly toward people of color. Tom Robinson’s ultimate death in the novel further proves Harper Lee’s wonderful job bringing awareness to the worldwide problem of racism by displaying the unfairness in court for Black men during this time.

Looking back on Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, countless characters can be portrayed as mockingbirds. This metaphor refers to people who get misjudged as a result of others' prejudiced thinking. Mrs. Lafayette Dubose, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson all exemplify mockingbirds who get criticized just for being different from others in their small town. Still today, we live in a world where many people judge others without a clue as to what may be going on behind closed doors. Scout certainly summarized the message of the novel with this quote at the end of the book: “Atticus was right. One time he said, you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee, 308).