Red Geranium- The red geranium symbolizes Tom Robinson’s life that is in Mayella’s hands, and it represents Mayella’s love for Tom. It also symbolizes how guilty Mayella is for trying to seduce Tom. In literature, the color red symbolizes death and love, and both of those can be applied to why Mayella always has this flower and takes care of it. When she attempted to seduce Tom and was caught, she was almost in love with him, and she felt guilty about it. When she went to trial, she had the choice to save Tom’s life by confessing, and in that way she was holding his life in her hands. When she didn’t admit to the jury that Tom didn’t rape her, she was partially responsible for his death. Considering that she has very little personal hygiene and doesn’t take care of things well, it is not a coincidence that this flower was well taken care of.
Mockingbird- The mockingbird in To Kill A Mockingbird symbolizes innocence. It’s considered a sin to kill a mockingbird because of its innocence. All is does is sing and eat, and mind it's own business. A mockingbird has done nothing to harm people, and it is a sin to harm something who has done nothing to harm you. The mockingbird can represent many people in the novel, and one of them could be Tom Robinson. He is a mockingbird because he was so innocent, and did nothing to harm anyone. Mayella held Toms life in her hands because at any moment she could make him accused of being guilty. Tom Robinson didn’t rape Mayella, it was implied that her father, Bob Ewell, was the one who actually raped her. No one will listen though, because Tom is colored, and Mr. Ewell is white. They’re obviously going to trust, or listen to the white man, due to the amount of white supremacy in the town. Boo Radley is another character in the novel who could be considered a mockingbird. He’s claimed as innocent because he wasn’t out in the open for most of his life. Boo Radley stabbed his father, and he had to go to prison. But, his father had a choice, he could send Boo to prison with the darked skinned, or keep him in the basement. His father choose to keep Boo in the basement, he was treated like a normal prisoner. Boo Radley was in the basement, he couldn’t go out, so how could he kill someone?
Mad Dog- An example of symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird is the mad dog. The dog was rabid, which means he had rabies, but due to the little knowledge of diseases in the 1930s, they referred to the dog as mad. The mad dog was seen roaming the streets of Maycomb. Once the community saw the dog, they immediately closed their doors preventing the disease from coming inside, and to distance themselves from it. They closed their doors to the rabid dog similar to the way they closed their doors to racism. The community only closed their doors to illness and cold weather, and the “illness” in the book is racism and white supremacy. The people of the town closed their doors not because they feared the dog, but because they feared confronting it. The dog represents racism because people in the community are to scared to confront the issue of racism, and they would much rather be able to close their door to it.
White Camelia- Another example of symbolism is the White Camellia. The White Camellia flower was given by Mrs. Dubose who later died of morphine withdrawal. Jem was given the White Camelia because it was the only one left in Mrs. Dubose’s deceased White Camellia garden. Jem went on a rampage when Mrs. Dubose made a racial slur against his father Atticus since he was defending Tom Robinson which is a black male. Jem got mad and cut every top off her white camellias. Jem was forced to go to Mrs. Dubose and talk to her and later on, read to her. The White Camellia is a symbol towards the Knights of White Camellia which were associated with the Ku Klux Klan. They both supported white supremacy and didn’t want the blacks to have freedom in the 1930s. This is another example of symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Snow Man- One example of symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird is the snow in Maycomb, Alabama and the snowman Scout and Jem made. First, snow in Alabama is very rare to see because of the climate and weather. It is usually very hot and humid there. Snow represents white supremacy in the county of Maycomb. The county is a very racist place and is filled with racist people. The color of snow is white, and white people are the people who are racist. This is showing that white supremacy is in the county and that is shown by the snow covering the ground. The snowman that Jem and Scout make is also a symbol of white supremacy. They started it off with putting mud on the bottom, and then made the snowman on top of it. This is a symbol of white supremacy because the color of mud is brown and the color of snow is white. The snow being above the mud is a symbol that white people are better than the colored people. This is one example of symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird.