Use of Symbols and Symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird :: Kill Mockingbird essays

Use of Symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird     Harper lee(prenominal) effectively uses symbolism throughout her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Jems nursing of the flowers denotes his courage that he nurses in order to be able to tolerate peoples criticism of his family, oddly of his father. He was forced to take care of the camellias just as he was forced to live with anger, disappointment and a big question mark in his young heart about the workings of grownups. Atticus never thought Jemd be the one to lose his head over this (110). However Jem did lose his head and now he has to find the strength to control his emotions in order to avoid further trouble. This courage was hard to find but Mrs Dubose did find it and managed to break herself from morphine onwards she died. She also made sure Jem got a white waxy camellia she had prepa redness for him. The waxy camellia, the Snow-on-the-Mountain (118), could be a symbol of courage. She built her tint little by lit tle just as when she was making the camellia. Now it is Jems turn to build his own. And as the camellia out of wax does not wither, in the same sense, true courage may be hard to build, but once built, it never leaves you.             Mrs Duboses camellias are not the only flowers that can be seen symbolically. Mayella Ewells red geraniums also carry an important meaning. During the Robinson trial the reader is given a comment of the Ewells property. It is said that what passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs , broomsticks and tool shafts, all tipped with out of practice(p) hammer-heads, snaggle-toothed rake heads, shovels, axes and grubbing hoes, held on with pieces of barbed wire. Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard containing the remains of a Model-T Ford, a discarded dentists chair, an ancient ice-box, summation lesser items old shoes, worn-out table radios, picture frames, and fruit jars, under which scrawny orange chic kens pecked hopefully. (176) The general picture one acquires by this description is that of a small dump, a place totally disordered like the playhouse of an insane child (176). One can easily guess the flagrant of the people who lived there. However, against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson.