To Kill a Mockingbird Group

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maggie001
maggie001
Student
High School - 9th Grade

What is the significance of Lee’s use of light and dark in Chapter 15 of "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

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Posted by maggie001 on Thursday November 6, 2008 at 7:42 AM and tagged with chapter 15, symbolism, themes, to kill a mockingbird.

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  1. katemschultz Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    The significance of Lee using light and dark is symbolic.  Light and dark can refer to skin colors; they can also refer to literal light and literal darkness.

    Tom is all alone in the dark jail in the dark night.  His future also look dark to him.  This is the perfect time for the mob to attack Tom--they won't be seen.  The mob can also be seen as symbolically representing darkness--ignorance.

    Atticus bring the light--literally and figuratively.  Atticus hooks up a light bulb so he can read in front of Tom's jail cell and protect him.  Atticus is also trying to do the right things, and spread the "light"--the knowledge of equal rights and the humanity of the black people to the others in Maycomb. 

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/mockingbird/chapter-15-summary-anal...

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    Posted by katemschultz on Thursday November 6, 2008 at 9:29 AM

  2. dbrooks22
    dbrooks22 Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Light and dark usually symbolizes good and evil and in this case that is what Harper Lee intended. Chapter 15 is the first fight between good and evil. The group of men who come to the Finch house in the evening are there to persuade Atticus to have Tom Robinson held somewhere besides Maycomb. They come under the cover of darkness because, in the light, their requisition would appear irrational. The darkness seems to cover the fact that they should be outstanding citizens and friends of the Finch’s. Their actions prove otherwise when they threaten Atticus by telling him he has “everything to lose from this” (Lee, Ch. 15).

     

    Later that night when Atticus goes to sit watch over Tom Robinson in the jail, he brings along a single lamp. The lamp seems to symbolize what is just, and the fact that Atticus is in possession of the lamp tells the reader that he is the one trying to shed light on the fact that prejudices are wrong.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/mockingbird/chapter-15-summary-anal...

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    Posted by dbrooks22 on Thursday November 6, 2008 at 9:49 AM