October 28, 2015
Symbolism
Do Now: What do each of these images symbolize?
Symbol ­ an object with both a literal and figurative meaning. It represents both iteself and something else.
Example:
literal ­ pink ribbon
figurative ­ breast cancer awareness
Chapter 5 ­ Miss Maudie's Nut Grass
“If she found a blade of nut grass in her yard it was like the Second Battle of the Marne: she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and subjected it to blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it’d kill us all if we didn’t stand out of the way” (56). “Why can’t you just pull it up?” . . . “Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard. Look here. When it comes fall this dries up and the wind blows it all over MaycombCounty” (56).
Symbolism ­ Miss Maudie believes that racism must be eliminated by the roots, just like the nutgrass. Miss Maudie is a perfectionist in her garden. She knows that nutgrass cannot be eliminated by "pulling them up." Racism is rampant in Maycomb; it must be destroyed at it's origins (roots).
"One sprig of nutgrass can ruin a whole yard" = danger prejudice poses to society, as it grows and spreads if not dealt with appropriately.
Chapter 10 ­ The Mockingbird
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“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (119).
“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” (119).
Symbolism ­ mockingbird = innocence. To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence.
Characters that can be identified as mockingbirds: Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley ­ innocents who have been destroyed through contact with evil.
Scout and Jem's last name is Finch (another type of small bird) = vulnerable in the racist world of Maycomb, which often treats the fragile innocence of childhood harshly
Chapter 10 ­ Tim Johnson, the Mad Dog
“. . . I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand” (88).
“Jem gulped like a goldfish, hunched his shoulders and twitched his torso. ‘He’s goin’ like that, only not like he wants to” (93).
Symbolism ­ The dog has rabies and Atticus shoots him. The disease represents racism and the fact that it was Atticus that shoots him symbolizes Atticus being a hero who will attempt to take racism down.