Mockingbirds (symbol)
In Part 2, Atticus describes how his father prohibited him from shooting mockingbirds, since they simply provide sheer enjoyment for people. Mockingbirds thereby represent innocence, and there are two symbolic mockingbirds who are sinfully destroyed in the film: Arthur/“Boo” and Tom. Arthur has been forced to spend most of his reclusive life at home, which damages his ability to live a meaningful and fruitful life, but he nonetheless remains an innocent force of good and the fierce protector of Jem and Scout. Likewise, Tom’s biggest crime was showing compassion for Mayella. He is an honest, decent man who has never meant any harm, yet his life unjustly ends at the hands of bigotry and blind hatred. These vulnerable mockingbirds are not prepared for their contact with evil, which leads to a permanent suffering.
Small Town Life (motif)
The details of small-town life are critically and lovingly rendered throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. In the opening monologue of the film, the older version of Scout recollects on the languid, tired town of Maycomb, stating, “The day [in Maycomb] was 24 hours long, but it seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go and nothin' to buy...and no money to buy it with.” The film’s narrative affirms Scout’s delineation of the carefree, slow-paced Southern lifestyle: Jem, Scout, and Dill spend their lazy summers looking for trouble in a mundane town, hanging out in a tree-house, and obsessing over the town’s pariah, Arthur/“Boo.” Their childhood freedom in Maycomb seems idyllic, but depravity and darkness—racial tensions, abuse, poverty—lie beneath Maycomb’s facade.
The Radley House (symbol)
Dilapidated, creaky, and ominous, the Radley house represents a fear of the unknown and isolation. Scout, Jem, and Boo are simultaneously intrigued and terrified by the property because they have never been inside or seen its most elusive resident, Arthur/"Boo." The detached house is an inscrutable mystery placed in utterly familiar surroundings for the children, so it provides a kind of physical manifestation of the dark and unknown depths of the imagination. The film implies that Mr. Radley purposefully isolates his son to prevent him from socializing with the community and wrecking havoc. Like the neglected home, Boo is subjected to a miserable, alienated existence and is the target of brutal gossip and suspicion in Maycomb.
Southern Gothic Details (motif)
To counteract the good-natured, idyllic setting of Maycomb, Mulligan instills the film’s visuals and narrative with elements of Southern Gothicism, a genre which features deeply flawed and grotesque characters, sinister settings, and macabre themes of decay and alienation. The Southern Gothic elements of the film include the children’s superstitions about Arthur/“Boo,” Atticus’s shooting of the rabid dog, and Scout and Jem’s ominous walk through the woods before getting attacked by Ewell. These morbid incidents and details contrast with the normally laid-back and quiet Maycomb, injecting tension and suspense.
The knothole and Boo's gifts
Through the knothole of a tree on the Radley property, Boo communicates with Jem and Scout, by the means of gifting them small trinkets: marbles, an old pocket watch, two carved soap figures, a whistle, a spelling medal, a crayon, and more. The knothole, and its contents, represents Boo’s contact with the children and his admiration—and perhaps yearning—for their innocence and generally carefree lives. Because of the knothole, the children unknowingly begin to humanize Boo and the Radley household, both of which prove to be less malevolent than they initially thought.
