To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age novel by Harper Lee. There are many important and surprising symbols in this novel. The repeated image of the thrush creates a strong and impressive motif. Harper Lee first introduces the thrush to the reader in chapter 10, when Atticus refuses to teach Scout and Jem how to shoot, saying, "Shoot all the jays you want, if you can hit them, but remember it's a shame kill a thrush". '. Harper Lee points out Scout's curiosity about her nonjudgmental father, stating that it's a "sin" to do something, while consulting Miss Maudie. Miss Maudie tells Scout that, "Thrushes don't do one thing but make music for our enjoyment... That's why it's a sin to kill a thrush." Harper Lee allows the reader to explore this motif through the use of the novel's characters and the prejudices and moral errors in the fictional town of Maycomb. There are two main characters, which Harper Lee uses this metaphor to illustrate. The symbolism of the metaphor is that of good, innocent people being destroyed by evil. Tom Robinson is a black man who works for Link Deas. His race makes him very vulnerable in Maycomb society and he acknowledges this: "Mr. Finch, if you were a nigger like me, you too would be afraid." Tom's fear of the people of Maycomb contrasts with Maycomb's views on blacks, making the "evil assumption that all Negroes lie [and] that all Negroes are fundamentally immoral beings." Tom also mirrors the mockingbird's compassion, as he feels sympathetic towards the lonely Mayella: "I felt very sorry for her." His trial symbolizes a mockery of justice, and Harper Lee reminds us of this when Scout observes: "The atmosphere in the courtroom was exactly the same as on a cold February morning, with... middle of paper... ." I'm both physically and metaphorically, "it would be a bit like shooting a mockingbird." Mr. Tate's understanding of this also highlights how he is also a protector of the mockingbird and symbolizes a changing Maycomb, "taking the one man who has done you and this town a great service and dragging him along with his ways shy of the limelight - for to me it is a shame, this could symbolize that Atticus has changed someone's views for the better and as a result Harper Lee follows the rules of a conventional novel Harper Lee illustrates that Boo is metaphorically shot when he is forced to kill to save the children from the drunken Mr Ewell, which led to the loss of his innocence. Although this results in the killing of both thrushes, Atticus describes it as "one step: it is only a small step, but it is a step. ". These two characters are the main and most important associations of thrushes.