Motif

Reading the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has helped me understand the meaning of motif. By using the motif "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird" in the book, it introduces the concept of it's a sin to kill or wrongly convict someone or something who is innocent. Before reading the book, I did not quite grasp the idea of what motif was, but after reading it, I now understand it so much better, especially because the motif of the book was captured by the major themes of the book.

Some of the major themes in the novel is racism and justice verses injustice. The Tom Robinson case is a good example of racism. The motif exemplifies the fact the Tom was wrongly convicted and killed just by the fact the he was black. It also conveys the aspect of injustice verses injustice. Tom Robinson is like the the mockingbird. Everyone who convicted him of rape were all committing the sin.

Overall I thought the book helped me understand motif better in many ways. It has also given me a lot of practice at analyzing literature. I feel that I am much better at getting the deeper meaning of a book or novel. Plus, I enjoyed reading the book, which made everything a lot easier.