<P> Absent mothers and abusive fathers are another theme in the novel . Scout and Jem's mother died before Scout could remember her, Mayella's mother is dead, and Mrs. Radley is silent about Boo's confinement to the house . Apart from Atticus, the fathers described are abusers . Bob Ewell, it is hinted, molested his daughter, and Mr. Radley imprisons his son in his house to the extent that Boo is remembered only as a phantom . Bob Ewell and Mr. Radley represent a form of masculinity that Atticus does not, and the novel suggests that such men, as well as the traditionally feminine hypocrites at the Missionary Society, can lead society astray . Atticus stands apart as a unique model of masculinity; as one scholar explains: "It is the job of real men who embody the traditional masculine qualities of heroic individualism, bravery, and an unshrinking knowledge of and dedication to social justice and morality, to set the society straight ." </P> <P> Allusions to legal issues in To Kill a Mockingbird, particularly in scenes outside of the courtroom, have drawn the attention of legal scholars . Claudia Durst Johnson writes that "a greater volume of critical readings has been amassed by two legal scholars in law journals than by all the literary scholars in literary journals". The opening quote by the 19th - century essayist Charles Lamb reads: "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once ." Johnson notes that even in Scout and Jem's childhood world, compromises and treaties are struck with each other by spitting on one's palm, and laws are discussed by Atticus and his children: is it right that Bob Ewell hunts and traps out of season? Many social codes are broken by people in symbolic courtrooms: Mr. Dolphus Raymond has been exiled by society for taking a black woman as his common - law wife and having interracial children; Mayella Ewell is beaten by her father in punishment for kissing Tom Robinson; by being turned into a non-person, Boo Radley receives a punishment far greater than any court could have given him . Scout repeatedly breaks codes and laws and reacts to her punishment for them . For example, she refuses to wear frilly clothes, saying that Aunt Alexandra's "fanatical" attempts to place her in them made her feel "a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on (her)". Johnson states, "(t) he novel is a study of how Jem and Scout begin to perceive the complexity of social codes and how the configuration of relationships dictated by or set off by those codes fails or nurtures the inhabitants of (their) small worlds ." </P> <P> Songbirds and their associated symbolism appear throughout the novel . Their family name Finch is also Lee's mother's maiden name . The titular mockingbird is a key motif of this theme, which first appears when Atticus, having given his children air - rifles for Christmas, allows their Uncle Jack to teach them to shoot . Atticus warns them that, although they can "shoot all the bluejays they want", they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird". Confused, Scout approaches her neighbor Miss Maudie, who explains that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures . She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us ." Writer Edwin Bruell summarized the symbolism when he wrote in 1964, "' To kill a mockingbird' is to kill that which is innocent and harmless--like Tom Robinson ." Scholars have noted that Lee often returns to the mockingbird theme when trying to make a moral point . </P> <P> Tom Robinson is the chief example among several innocents destroyed carelessly or deliberately throughout the novel . However, scholar Christopher Metress connects the mockingbird to Boo Radley: "Instead of wanting to exploit Boo for her own fun (as she does in the beginning of the novel by putting on gothic plays about his history), Scout comes to see him as a' mockingbird'--that is, as someone with an inner goodness that must be cherished ." The last pages of the book illustrate this as Scout relates the moral of a story Atticus has been reading to her, and, in allusions to both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, states about a character who was misunderstood, "when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things...Atticus, he was real nice," to which he responds, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them ." </P>

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