Motif

After learning the term motif for the summer assignment, I had an extremely basic understanding of the word but I didn't necessarily know of specific examples. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird has an obvious motif, and one that most definitely gave me a better idea of how much motif can enhance a novels theme and meaning. In this book, it would have been impossible to completely understand the theme of innocence, which was something that many of the characters had, and ended up being one of the main components of the story.
In the novel, the mockingbird was the motif, and it was that killing a mockingbird is a sin because it is such an innocent creature. Tom Robinson was an example, because he didn't rape Mayella Ewell, but was convicted of it anyways. This enriched both the theme of innocence and prejudice. Another example was of Boo Radley, on the night of Halloween, Bob Ewell attacked Jem and Scout, and because they were young children they had little defense. Boo Radley stabbed Bob Ewell, saving both Jem and Scouts lives. After this, Atticus didnt want to lie to the justice system and wanted to turn in Boo, but Scout understood that taking Boo Radley to court was the equivalent to killing a mockingbird. This use of motif demonstrated the idea of the maturity theme, and obviously innocence.