To Kill a Mockingbird Analysis In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the author, Harper Lee, uses symbolisms to articulate the idea that one can defy social prejudices by possessing moral courage and personal integrity. One symbolism in the novel is Mrs. Dubose’s Snow-on-the-mountain camellias. “...Jem snatched my baton and ran flailing wildly...He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned…” (137) The camellias symbolized the hatred, racism, and prejudices in Maycomb County. Although, its color is as white and as pure as the snow, the person who tends to the flowers, Mrs. Dubose, was vexed and cunning. With that said, Jem as a young boy learning the discrepancy among his townsfolk ruptured in anger because he can’t do anything about it, but to demolish them in what a young boy can do; cutting the tops of these camellias. Moreover, Jem Finch revealed his personal integrity by smashing Mrs. Dubose’s camellias in a way that no matter what his father, Atticus, says, be it to be a gentleman and to be a superior young man, in the novel, he is not there yet. As much as he wants to undertake the problem of prejudice, he can’t because he is only a child who is still learning…show more content… As these flowers represented hate, prejudices, and racism, Jem knew that destroying it would be wrong. “He bent my baton against his knee, snapped it in two and threw it down” (137). Jem immediately knew that violence wouldn’t solve social prejudices amongst the people of Maycomb. Likewise, the camellias made Jem realize that what he did was wrong and unacceptable, and now he must face the adverse consequences of his actions by reading to Mrs. Dubose. He fought social prejudices by doing the unexpected. We expected him to hold a grudge against Mrs. Dubose, but he went into her house and apologized. The camellias became the root of both integrity and moral courage in the
