A way that Harpee Lee shows life in town like Maycomb is through symbolism. The mockingbird is a recurring motif through out the story, and it represents the destruction of innocence in characters such as Atticus and Tom Robinson. Atticus says in one part of the book “Shoot all the blue jays you want, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” The reason it is a sin to kill is because all they do is sing for people and nothing else. This is said by Miss Maudie in the book. The way this links in with the story line is the fact that Tom Robinson is charged with rape, when it is shown to the audience that he is innocent. Tom Robinsons innocence is destroyed as he always helped Mayella Ewell, and even denied her money. But he is imprisoned because of Bob Ewells prejudism towards the black community. Harper Lee shows that there were unfair trials in the 1930s such as Tom Robinsons case, and there was a lot of prejudice towards the black community in everyday life.
Racism and prejudice is a strong theme in the book and the idea is always brought up like the court case. Harper Lee is trying to send a message to the audience of what life was like at that time. When people were at the courthouse Scout sees “…the white people were lining up in front of the negroes.” The theme is woven into the story line, but Maycomb county is generally portrayed as a peacefully place. She creates a peaceful semantic field using the words “quite, silent, normal and tranquil”. The effect this has is it creates a calm atmosphere, and it makes daily life appear normal and nothing out of the ordinary usually occurs. However I think the word “silent” creates a more suspenseful atmosphere. This is how Maycomb is persieved by Scout, but she does not see the darkness behind the county, until the fragmented sections which are told from the point of view from an older and more mature Scout.
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