Quote Analysis: To Kill a Mockingbird

There are many strong, important quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird. They can help advance the plot, express the theme, and give meaning or add interest to the story. Here are two of my favorite:

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing" (page 18).

First of all, I can't tell if this quote is an example of a metaphor or a simile (is it comparing reading to breathing or stating that reading is breathing)? So, aside from that, this is my all time favorite quote in the book so far. It characterizes Scout, the narrator, as someone who is an avid reader, even at the age of six. She is very intelligent and is lucky to be able to read at the level she is at. Another thing about this quote, is that the context around it gives a lot of insight about what it was like living in that time period. Scout's teacher, Miss Caroline, actually scolds Scout for being able to read and write. She explains that it's because she is worried she will not learn to read in the right way, but I don't believe this to be true. I believe it's more about conformity than.anything. This teacher believes in every student learning the exact same way and pace as their peers and she strongly enforces this belief. Though today we know that this is not the case, and we encourage diversity, this was the time where many people had this same belief.

"Miss Maudie stopped rocking, and her voice hardened.’you are too young to understand it,' she said, 'but sometimes the bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of---oh, of your father.'

I was shocked. 'Atticus doesn't drink whiskey,' I said. 'He never drunk a drop in his life---nome, yes he did. He said he drank some one time and didn’t like it.’

Miss Maudie laughed. ‘Wasn’t talking about your father,’ she said. ‘What I meant was, if Atticus Finch drank until he was drunk he wouldn’t be as hard as some men are at their best. There are just some kind of men who---who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results’” (page 450.

 

Miss Maudie is explaining to scout that some people are so drunk in their own ideas and beliefs about the bible that they are worse about it than a good man that's drunk on whiskey. This is an important quote for multiple reasons. It shows what their neighborhood was like and also characterizes Atticus as a good man (or gives for evidence for that). It also shows the reader that Miss Maudie has a lot of admiration for Atticus and that she personally thinks he is a good man.