To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee - Laurie Champion (essay date summer 2003)
Laurie Champion (essay date summer 2003)
SOURCE: Champion, Laurie. “Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.” Explicator 61, no. 4 (summer 2003): 234-36.
[In the following essay, Champion explicates the symbolic use of the terms “right” and “left” in To Kill a Mockingbird, arguing that “right” in the novel symbolizes virtue, while “left” symbolizes iniquity.]
Throughout Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, besides the ordinary connotations of “right” and “left” as opposing spatial directions, the terms also work on a subtler level: “right” suggesting virtue and “left” suggesting iniquity.
Connotations of “right” and “left” play a crucial role during the climactic trial scenes. Building evidence against Bob Ewell, Atticus asks Sheriff Tate which one of Mayella's eyes was bruised the night she was attacked, and Tate replies, “Her left.” Atticus asks, “Was it her left facing...
[The entire page is 1251 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
