Mockingbird Motif

To Kill a Mockingbird has enhanced my understanding of motif by showing me how there can be one major motif throughout the book and how there doesn't have to be multiple motif's throughout the book. The "mockingbird motif" is the mention of the mockingbird throughout the book. It started with Atticus saying "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" from that point on the "mockingbird" was used to describe how innocent people shouldn't be harmed. It shows how some people may seem bad but really they're just misunderstood which causes prejudice against people. This motif adds a symbolic level of meaning to how people judge and make assumptions of other people.

The mockingbird is used as a symbol of the harmless and how if they've done nothing wrong, then they should never be harmed. Throughout the book, the mockingbird helps develop the themes like prejudice, growing up, and innocency. The mockingbird shows how peoples prejudice can get any the way of the truth and whats really the right thing to do. It shows how innocent people are harmed even though they've done nothing wrong. The mockingbird may describe who some people really are and how people might not even realize it and may even harm them without realizing the trouble it could cause.

Symbolism

I chose this picture to symbolize the character (Scout) that I portrayed in this weeks dramatic reading because of how Scout seems to be misunderstanding, yet she can be caring at times. The two different eye colors represents Scout's behavior, at times she can be cynical and childish and others she can be calm and obedient.

To represent Scout's behavior i could've chosen a picture of any animal that has two different eye colors but instead i chose a white cat to symbolize Scout as best as i could. The white cat symbolizes her curiosity and innocence like the saying "curiosity killed the cat" and how white represents innocence because of it's purity. Scout may say that she knows what adults are talking about but really she's just trying to act older than she really is by just pretending she understands hence her innocency. Curiosity represents Scout's undventurousness and willingness to learn about things and her curiosity to know what's going on and to discover new things.

Life Lesson

Throughout my life i have learned many lessons that have helped me be able to survive the outside world. My mom has probably helped me the most. She has taught me that as long as i try hard at what i do then i will achieve great things. She has taught me to not care what other people think of me and to just be happy for what i have and for my accomplishments. She has told me many times that she is proud of me for how hard i work even if it's not good enough but that as long as i try my hardest and im determined to do my best that that should be good enough for me and that i shouldnt beat myself up for when i dont succeed.
Knowing this has helped me not to give up and to try even harder at everything i do. When im dedicated, determined and when i try my hardest i can accomplish anything. It's helped me to become confident in what i can do and has helped me to be able to try even harder. Whenever i get a bad grade or something and i know i tried my hardest then i shouldnt beat myself down about it, but i'll know that next time i'll be able to try even harder and i'll be able to accomplish great things.