Wiki Content. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Tom Robinson. Edit source History Talk 0. Categories Characters Males Deceased Add category. Heavy symbolism is placed on the idea of innocence throughout the picture, a theme represented by the mockingbird and reinforced through the creative construction of character names. The mockingbird is an image of helplessness that needs protected, only existing as a piece of purity.
Mockingbirds can do no harm; they only transmit beauty through song and visual glory. Killing one, as is directly said in the film by Atticus Finch Gregory Peck to his children, is a sin. Their surname, Finch, draws connection to the mockingbird as a similar-looking small bird. Scout becomes a literal scout on a quest for understanding, gaining an appreciation of the moral lessons bestowed upon her by Atticus through the events of the film.
But two other characters, Tom Robinson Brock Peters and Boo Radley Robert Duvall , more distinctly represent the symbolic concept of the mockingbird as their purity and innocence is killed by prejudice, anger, and fear in a manner that destroys both of them on a grand scale.
Though never seen, he manages to leave Jem small trinkets inside a hole in the trunk of a tree, which Jem collects and keeps in a box. Despite all that has happened to him, he crosses the boundary of fear and prejudice to rescue Jem and Scout when they are attacked.
Having visited the home of Mayella Ewell on numerous occasions with the honorable intent to help her with household chores, he eventually becomes the recipient of her sexual advances. His sentence is the product of extreme fear and group prejudice, where townsfolk would rather agree to an obvious lie than life with the social trauma of one of their white women having thrown herself at a black man.
He is a mockingbird that was killed when his only intent was to spread joy to others. Ewell didn't seem to help her none, and neither did the chillun.
Both men know their town very well. Unbeknownst to the Finch children, Boo has watched them grow up. The reader can fairly assume that Boo is also familiar with the Ewells, and probably doesn't think much more of them than the rest of Maycomb. Boo and Tom have had minor skirmishes with the law, but that past doesn't tarnish the kindness they show to others in the story.
The moment that Mayella makes a pass at Tom, he inherently knows that he's in serious danger. Truthfully, he probably knew that helping her without pay was not the safest thing for him to do, but the compassion of one human being for another won out over societal expectations.
The children treat Boo with as much prejudice as the town shows Tom Robinson. They assign characteristics to Boo without validation; they want to see Boo, not as their neighbor, but as a carnival-freak-show-type curiosity.
Ironically, watching the injustice that Tom suffers helps the children understand why Boo may choose to be a recluse: "'it's because he wants to stay inside.
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