Friday, March 9, 2007

The Name "To Kill a Mockingbird"


The other day in class we were talking about the name "To Kill a Mockingbird" and what it could represent or mean. The name "To Kill a Mockingbird" could have many different meanings that would all be reasonable and make sense.


Personally, I think the mockingbird represents the black people of the era. Towards the end of the book, "To Kill a Mockingbird", it relates to racism.


Mockingbirds mimick and sing the songs that they hear other birds singing. In a way, black people were the same way if you look at it from the right angle. They were just trying to be like us, to fit in.


We would not let them, however. We enslaved them, and put them below us. We stripped them of their pride and dignity. We were basically stripping them of their very spirit. In a way, we were killing a mockingbird. We were destroying everything they stood for. No matter what they did, they would always be one below us.


This is what I personally believe the name "To Kill a Mockingbird" means. It could have many valid meanings however.

3 comments:

cavalierschick said...

that's a really neat idea. I never thought about it from that way. I wrote a post on my thoughts about what the title ment. If you come up with any more ideas, let me know. Excellent post. :]

lild7hinascc said...

Wow, interesting take on the name. I've never thought about that. Great post. :)

bumblebee15 said...

That is interesting! I thought that mockingbirds referred to people who still have racial discrimination because they mimick their parents and ancestors from the Civil War. I thought the author was saying that we should not literally kill those people, but kill their feelings that they have excepted to be all right because their parents thought so. That's is what I thought. Great post by the way.