Mockingbird Motif

When I first started the summer assignment, I stared at the list of words we had to define for a while. I didn’t know what the bulk of those words meant. If you asked me what motif meant I would have only been able to tell you exactly what the dictionary said. After reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” I can now explain what a motif is in my own words. In this novel the motif is a recurring symbol that exemplifies and enhances the themes.

The two times in “To Kill a Mockingbird” where the mockingbird motif is directly referred to is with Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. The use of this motif started when Atticus told Jem and Scout that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird after they got their toy guns. When Tom Robinson was killed Mr. Tate said that it was like the senseless killing of a songbird (mockingbird). The way Tom was an innocent being but was treated like dirt and eventually murdered. The motif was brought up again after Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell but didn’t want himself to be recognized for his deed. Scout thought that it would be kind of like killing a mockingbird to let people know that Boo was hero because he would get too much attention. The last thing Boo wanted was to be in the lime-light. She is saying that it would be like a crime to bring misery to the man.

Life Lessons

Throughout my life, instrumental, life changing events have been accumulating in my mind. One of the most significant quotes that I have gathered was first heard when I was about six years old. I was but a juvenile in the dentist office with a cavity. My mother was furious. Her voice pierced wisdom into my mind when she next said, “We provide you with all the tools you need to accomplish a task, but it is up to you to motivate yourself to do what needs to be done”. By this she meant that she supplied me with the necessities needed to maintain my dental hygiene. From that point, through present day, my parents have recapitulated the importance of grasping this concept and incorporating it into my life. Though I originally heard it on the subject of having unblemished teeth, in my later years, I have come to utilize this quote to excel in both academic and athletic arenas.

Since apprehending this momentous directive, I have become motivated to become motivated. In the present day, I am able to take note of the fact that most of the needed “tools” are already at my beckon and I simply need to seize them with both initiative and determination. These “tools” are things like the dental tools they originally were, but also books, parental help and guidance, and, in an athletic perspective, the opportunity to join a great soccer club that has extra practice time always there for my taking. As I progress though life, I am able to more fully reflect on those early words and now realize how I am ultimately responsible for the outcome at my journeys end. Adding to my parents’ words, I can allege that it is legitimate that I am bestowed with the required instruments of success and that I must complement these with my motivation.