“The Mockingbirds don't do anything other than make music for us to enjoy. They don't devour people's gardens, they don't nest in corn cages, they don't do anything but sing their hearts out to us. Therefore it is a sin to kill a mockingbird” (119). In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the first mention of a mockingbird appears when Jem and Scout are learning how to use their new air rifles. Atticus doesn't want to teach them how to shoot air rifles, but he gives them one rule to follow: don't kill mockingbirds. Later, Miss Maudie explains to Scout, the main character, that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because it is innocent and does nothing to anyone. Throughout this story, several characters are depicted as mockingbirds. Jem, Scout, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley all fit the symbol of a mockingbird because they are all innocent to begin with, but are then radically changed by the fragility of the world. The first mockingbird figures are the children Finch, Jem and Scout. Jem is a mockingbird figure because he starts out innocent and later his innocence is taken. In this book, Jem starts off as an innocent little child and has done nothing wrong. He doesn't realize how broken the world is until later, when he is older and more mature. The perfect example of this is at the courthouse when Jem begins to understand the idea that the world is not perfect and realizes that Tom Robinson is innocent. Jem doesn't understand why Tom is falsely convicted, so when the verdict comes, Jem is completely torn and Scout tells the reader what it was like: "'Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty...' Jem threw a glance at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony railing, and his shoulders were trembling as if every "guilty...... middle of paper...... child's life and became a hero. Scout summarizes these actions at the end of the book: “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of lucky pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give back. We never put back into the tree what we took out: we hadn't given it anything, and that made me sad" (373). Boo Radley did all these things but Scout was sad that he didn't having never given anything in return. She now realizes that Boo is not a bad guy after all. This is all how Boo makes music, just like a mockingbird makes music. a scary and evil person, but in reality, he is not a bad guy at all. By the way Boo Radley makes music and by the fact that he is an innocent man, he is the perfect image of l. mockingbird in this book..