you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (Lee, 20).

Increasing one's perspective is metaphorically compared to climbing into person's skin and walking around in it.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common. The first person style of writing gives the novel a wonderful format in which to use imagery.  The novel To Kill A Mockingbirdis full of literary elements like metaphors and similes.  Harper Lee was a very image heavy author.  Her imagery makes one feel like they were truly going through the story with Scout, Jem, Aticus and the rest of the characters. Ms. Lee was once asked about her beautiful style of writing and whether or not she would ever write another novel.  She is quoted as saying that she said everything she had to say in To Kill A Mockingbird.

In the first chapter of To Kill A Mockingbird there is a statement make by Scout.  She says,

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it." pg 11

Later in the same chapter Jem tells Dill,

"Lord, what a name." "your name's longer than you are.  Bet it;s a foot longer."

Later in the same chapter one Scout describes Mr. Radley with a metaphor;

"He was a thin leathery with colorless eyes, so colorless they did not reflect light." (pg18)

At the end of the first chapter Scout describes the Radley house;

"The old house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we thought we saw an inside shutter move.  Flick. A tiny, almost invisible movement, and the house was still."

These are just a couple of the myriad of metaphors in the novel

One metaphor can be found in Chapter 10 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird when Miss Maudie says to Atticus, "Atticus, you are a devil from hell." Since Atticus is not literally a devil, we know Miss Maudie is comparing Atticus to a devil to make a point, thereby creating a metaphor. Miss Maudie says this when Atticus comes home for lunch to find that Scout had built herself a barricade in the front lawn from which she was crouching behind to aim her air rifle at Miss Maudie as she bent over to tend to her azaleas. Atticus goes across the street to inform Miss Maudie that she was in "considerable peril" to which Miss Maudie replies by calling him a "devil from hell."

Normally, the idiom "from hell" is used to speak of anything significantly unpleasant or horrible, like something from hell. However, Miss Maudie is using it to make light of the fact that Atticus was inevitably looking at her rear end and to thank him for the warning, similarly to calling him an angel. Scout later thinks to herself that she wishes her father were a "devil from hell" because she wishes he was more adventurous and different from others.

We find a second metaphor in Chapter 11 when Scout narrates the children's experiences with Mrs. Dubose. By the time we reach this chapter, the children have become brave enough to venture into town by themselves, which forces them to pass Mrs. Dubose's house, the meanest old woman in the neighborhood. Each time they pass her house, she showers them with criticisms. Scout uses the following to describe their interactions with Mrs. Dubose:

If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and given a melancholy prediction on what we would amount to when we grew up which was always nothing. (Ch. 11)

In this passage, Scout uses the metaphor "raked by her wrathful gaze" to compare Mrs. Dubose's eyes, with their evil, critical stare, to a garden rake. In other words, in Scout's view, being looked at by Mrs. Dubose was the equivalent of dirt being raked by a garden rake. Since rakes leave such deep indentations in the earth, if earth had feelings, we might assume that being raked would be considered a very painful process. Hence, Scout is using her metaphor to describe being looked at by Mrs. Dubose as a very painful process.

1. Atticus tells his children that Bob got everything "all out of his system," which is an idiom expressing how people do something that makes themselves feel better. (Chapter 23)

2. Atticus is explaining mob mentality as a way to justify the jury's decision to convict Tom Robinson and uses the idiom "lose their heads," which means "get mad and upset." (Chapter 23)

3. Scout uses the expression, "Gee minetti," which means "Oh my goodness!" or "Wow!" (Chapter 23)

4. While Scout is describing the females attending her aunt's missionary circle, she uses an idiom to describe Miss Rachel as being "sober as a judge," which means that she is clear-headed and not intoxicated. (Chapter 24)

5. Aunt Alexandra uses the idiom "tears him to pieces" while she explains her brother's feelings about Tom Robinson's plight. "Tears him to pieces" means to make someone extremely upset and sad. (Chapter 24)

6. Jem tells Scout, "Aw dry up," which is an idiom meaning "shut up." (Chapter 25)

7. Scout recalls Maycomb's reaction to Tom's death and reiterates some of the comments from the citizens. She recalls hearing them say that Tom was "runnin‘ fit to beat lightnin’," which is an expression meaning that he was moving at an extremely fast pace. (Chapter 25)

8. Scout uses the idiom "out of mind" to describe her feelings about Boo. The idiom "out of mind" means to forget about something. (Chapter 25)

A euphemism is a word that is substituted for another word or expression that might otherwise be offensive or unpleasant. Euphemisms are often amusing or are meant to mislead. An idiom is similar to a euphemism but instead usually carries a figurative meaning rather than a literal meaning. Idioms are also more often groups of words or an expression.

There are many examples of both literary terms throughout the chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird. Here are a few from Chapters 22-25.

• Alexandra substitutes the word "cynical" for another unnamed word. (Chapter 22)
• Scout describes the kitchen table as being loaded with "enough food to bury the family." (Chapter 22)
• The word "colored" when referring to Tom Robinson could be considered a euphemism if it was meant to substitute for the "N" word, for example, but there is no evil intent upon Atticus' part when he says it. (Chapter 22)
• Scout threatens to "flung a fit." (Chapter 23)
• Atticus uses the terms "shadow of a doubt" and "square deal." (Chapter 23)
• Jem and Scout use the words "yap" and "yappy." (Chapter 23)
• Alexandra refers to Walter Cunningham Jr. as "trash." (Chapter 23)
• Mrs. Merriweather uses the word "darky." (Chapter 24)
• Aunt Alexandra uses the term "the last straw."  (Chapter 24)

One of the most famous metaphors in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is said by Atticus to Scout early in the novel. In Chapter 3, after Scout has had a very disappointing first day of school, Atticus uses a metaphor to teach Scout the principle he lives by of understanding, accepting, and respecting other people:

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-- ... --until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (Ch. 3)

Scout takes this message very much to heart, and it comes up several other times in the book. By the final chapter of the novel, Scout has grown enough that she can reword the metaphor on her own:

One time [Atticus] said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. (Ch. 31)

Scout recalls Atticus's lesson in understanding and accepting others as she stands on the porch of Arthur Radley and sees the neighborhood through his eyes. As she does so, she thinks about how Arthur observed the activities of "his children" with feelings of generosity, care, and even concern.
Another important metaphor is spoken by Atticus to Jem and helps develop the theme concerning courage. Jem has just had his experience with Mrs. Dubose in which he learns to see her as not just a cantankerous, hateful old woman but as a truly great lady due to her bravery. Atticus had wanted Jem to spend time reading to Mrs. Dubose with the express purpose of teaching him the true meaning of courage. Atticus uses a metaphor to explain what he wants Jem to see courage as being:

I wanted you to see something about [Mrs. Dubose]--I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. (Ch. 11)

Atticus continues to explain that he wanted Jem to see courage as the ability to undertake a task one is unlikely to succeed in but following through with it regardless, simply because one knows it is the right thing to do, a message that is a central premise of the book.

A euphemism is a polite way of phrasing something, usually a delicate subject that is considered sensitive to discuss in the presence of children. Many of the euphemisms in To Kill a Mockingbird come in the form of Atticus's lawyerly language. When Scout suggests that she could stop going to school like Burris Ewell, Atticus explains that "the Ewells were members of an exclusive society made up of the Ewells." He could have said that they were white trash, but he used a much kinder and less loaded phrase. Instead of referring to Bob Ewell as a poacher, he told Scout that he "was permitted to hunt and trap out of season" because the landowners felt sorry for his children.

Another person Atticus uses euphemisms about when he could have used harsher language is Mrs. Dubose. He consistently excuses her unkind remarks and behavior because she is "sick." Only after she dies does Atticus reveal that she was a morphine addict. He explains she was a brave woman for overcoming her addiction before she died.

Since much of the novel centers around the rape charge against Tom Robinson, this sensitive subject matter is discussed in euphemistic terms at several points in the novel. After Scout hears the word in passing, she asks Atticus what "rape" is. He replies that it is "carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent." This explanation goes over Scout's head. Later, during the trial, the rape is called being taken advantage of and sexual intercourse. Bob Ewell uses a crude term that causes the courtroom to erupt and produces five minutes of gavel-pounding to restore order.

Atticus understood the power of well-chosen words, so he used euphemisms frequently to spare people's feelings and to teach kindness and respect to his children.

A euphemism is simply a nice way of saying something unpleasant. When someone dies, we say that they have "passed away," for example. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are numerous examples of euphemism, expressing the colorful and inventive use of language in this neck of the woods.

One such example is Mr. Radley's "buying cotton." Mr. Radley doesn't actually buy cotton, of course. In fact, he doesn't really seem to buy anything. But as no one knows what he actually does for a living, "buying cotton" is a euphemism for doing nothing. The general assumption is that he must be on welfare. This particular euphemism is interesting in that it reflects the importance of cotton to the Southern economy.

A euphemism is "an indirect, mild, delicate, inoffensive, or vague word or expression for one thought to be coarse, sordid, or otherwise unpleasant, offensive, or blunt." Here are a few examples from "To Kill a Mockingbird":

• Scout frequently says, "What in the sam hill?" It's a polite way of saying, "What in the hell?"
• "wear you out" means to give a spanking.
• "sinking spells" can be true illness, but usually occur when somebody wants to avoid doing something
• a snipe hunt is a prank
• "ruttin' on" and "took advantage of" are euphemisms for the sexual act

This is an example of personification.

Personification is a type of figurative language where something inanimate is described as animate or given human-like qualities.  In this case, the quote can be interpreted as personification because the pants seem to be waiting for Jem to come back for them.

“When I went back for my breeches—they were all in a tangle when I was gettin‘ out of ’em, I couldn’t get ‘em loose. When I went back—” Jem took a deep breath. “When I went back, they were folded across the fence… like they were expectin’ me.” (Ch. 7) 

What is actually happening here is that Boo Radley saw Jem’s pants and knew that he would come back to get them.  He took the pants and stitched them up, and then left them for Jem because he did not want Jem to get into trouble.  As Jem observes, the stitching is uneven and does not appear to have been done by a woman.  In those days, more women would be sewing than men. 

This incident serves to foreshadow Boo’s later involvement in the children’s lives.  Previously, he left them presents in the tree.  When Miss Maudie’s house caught on fire, Boo Radley again tried to protect one of the Finch children by leaving a blanket on Scout’s shoulders. 

This is when Jem realized that Boo Radley was the one who left the presents and the pants.  He spills everything to Atticus so that he won’t tell Nathan Radley what Boo has done. 

“…Mr. Nathan put cement in that tree, Atticus, an‘ he did it to stop us findin’ things—he’s crazy, I reckon, like they say, but Atticus, I swear to God he ain’t ever harmed us, he ain’t ever hurt us, he coulda cut my throat from ear to ear that night but he tried to mend my pants instead… he ain’t ever hurt us, Atticus—” (Ch. 8) 

Atticus agrees with Jem’s assessment of Boo Radley’s harmlessness.  He agrees not to return the blanket and get Boo in trouble.  This is a turning point for Jem and Scout.  They begin to realize that Boo Radley is not the neighborhood villain after all.  He is their friend, and he is looking out for them.

The passage is copied below. Right before it, Dill had sent Scout a letter saying he loved her but wasn't coming to Maycomb that summer. She reflects on their time together:

I had never thought about it, but summer was Dill by the fishpool smoking string, Dill’s eyes alive with complicated plans to make Boo Radley emerge; summer was the swiftness with which Dill would reach up and kiss me when Jem was not looking...

Before these thoughts passed through Scout's mind, she had been dealing with Jem pulling away from her as he entered adolescence. She had been longing for Dill to come as he did every summer. She wanted Dill's presence more than ever, because the gap dividing her from Jem was growing wider.

Figurative language in the passage includes the use of metaphor, a comparison not using the words like or as. Scout says "summer was Dill." She associates Dill so strongly with summer that the two seem the same to her. She then extends this metaphor by using imagery. Imagery is description that employs any of the five sense of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. Scout offers us a visual and perhaps olfactory image of Dill by the fish pool smoking some sort of cigarette, and the visual image of Dill's eyes alight with a plan. This is followed the touch imagery of Dill quickly kissing her on the sly.

The tone of the passage communicates nostalgia for times past and longing for Dill. Even though Scout is still a child, she is beginning to have to come to grips with change and the losses it can bring. The world has felt stable and secure to Scout, but now change seems to be everywhere.

Figurative language is any language that expresses an idea (or ideas) that are not to be understood literally. 

There's some figurative language here. This is Lula, upset because Cal has brought white children to a black church. We can tell by the attitude of her body that she's upset, even before she utters a word. 

She is "bullet-headed." Because it's safe to assume that her head isn't literally a bullet, this is figurative language. This, as well as her "Indian-bow mouth," are metaphors, meaning that her head is compared to the shape of a bullet and her mouth is compared to the shape of an Indian-bow.

Also, she seems "seven feet tall." This is hyperbole, which is simply another way of saying "exaggeration to for the sake of emphasis."  

Lee uses both hyperbole and simile in the passage below:

the business part of the meeting was blood-curdling, the social hour was dreary. ... She said no more. When Miss Maudie was angry her brevity was icy. Something had made her deeply angry, and her gray eyes were as cold as her voice.

The context is Scout attending a missionary society meeting hosted by Aunt Alexandria. The women are discussing the Tom Robinson verdict. Mrs. Merriweather is expressing her dismay at the way the trial has made the black community in Maycomb discontented and unhappy. She is, without saying so directly, criticizing Atticus for having defended Robinson in a way that made it clear he wasn't guilty. She is thus blaming him—and not the unjust jury verdict—for upsetting Maycomb's blacks. She complains of having to scold her servant, Sophy, for being "sulky."

Miss Maudie comments that Mrs. Merriweather doesn't mind eating the food Atticus provides for the meeting, meaning that Mrs. Merriweather is a nasty hypocrite for accepting Atticus's family's hospitality while running him down behind his back.

Hyperbole is exaggeration. Lee uses hyperbole when she has Scout say the business part of the meeting was "blood-curdling." Something blood-curdling is very frightening, such as finding a mutilated corpse. We know the meeting wasn't that bad but that Scout is trying to make a point about disliking it.

Simile is a comparison using like or as. Lee uses a simile when she has Scout compare Miss Maudie's gray eyes to her cold voice. All of this emphasizes how angry Miss Maudie is and how icy towards Mrs. Merriweather.

The title is an example of a metaphor.

Titles often contain metaphors.  A metaphor is an indirect comparison.  In this case, we are not literally talking about shooting mockingbirds.

The title comes from when Scout and Jem get guns for Christmas and Atticus tells them for the first time not to do something because it’s a sin.

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. (ch 10)

Miss Maudie explains that mockingbirds do not do anything to hurt anyone.  They just make beautiful music. 

Mockingbirds are innocent creatures sometimes harassed by others.  This brings us to the symbolic nature of the title.  The characters that are mockingbirds are Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.  Neither of them are dangerous and they both are helpful, but they are both victims of society.

Atticus explains that killing a mockingbird is a sin because all the mockingbird does is make music. Unlike bluejays or crows, the mockingbird does not damage crops or attack other animals. There are multiple examples, or representations of this in the story.

Symbolically, the sin of killing a mockingbird translates to the sin of wrongly finding Tom Robinson guilty. Tom Robinson is shown throughout the story as a good person, a hard worker, and someone who has strong values and genuinely tries to help others.

Tom Robinson is meant to represent the human equivalent of a mockingbird. While other people in the story are hurtful, prideful, and at times violent, Tom is quiet and respectful.

The same can be said for Boo Radley. He has become what he is based on what was done to him. Even though he was responsible for Ewell's death, it would be wrong to put him on trial. He saved Jem's life and meant no harm to anyone.

In both cases, the way the characters live their lives is symbolic of the mockingbird. So, the figurative language used is symbolism - the symbol of the mockingbird as a representation of good/harmless people. 

When Scout as an adult narrates in retrospect, peering through the tunnel of memory mixed with age, she embellishes her account with some rather colorful metaphors. Introducing her family history with humor, she explains that her ancestor

• Simon Finch would never have paddled up the Alabama River if General Andrew Jackson had not "run the Creeks up the creek."  This is a colloquial metaphor for Jackson's having taken away the land from the Creek Indians.
• In describing the history of the area, Scout narrates that the Haverfords had dispatched Maycomb's leading blacksmith in a misunderstanding over his keeping a mare. (Here shooting is called "dispatching")
• In describing the Radley Place across the street, Scout employs several unstated comparisons, such as her stating that it was "inhabited by an unknown entity" [Boo Radley] or a malevolent phantom
• Her other neighbors are also likened to various beings, such as "Mrs. Dubose was plain hell"
• The town gossip Stephanie Crawford is "a neighborhood scold."
• Mr. Radley, Boo's father, Jem describes as having "bought cotton," meaning in a politer way that he does nothing.
• On the first day of school, Jem "cut me from the covey of first-graders," comparing in an unstated metaphor that the first graders resembles a covey of quail.
• After having been scolded for already knowing how to read, Scout apologizes and "retired meditating upon my crime "
• Having been made to stand in the corner, Scout calls her time there "my sojourn."
• Of course, the most pronounced and significant metaphor is "mockingbirds" which are what innocent people are compared to.

In Harper Lee’s classic of American literature To Kill a Mockingbird, young narrator Jean Louise “Scout” Finch is what was then called “a tomboy,” a girl who enjoyed activities considered more traditionally masculine. Scout enjoys playing with her older brother Jem and their friend Dill far more than attending to the socially-appropriate responsibilities expected of her by Aunt Alexandra, her father’s sister who has come to live with Scout, Jem, Atticus, and the family housekeeper Calpurnia. Alexandra is a judgmental, narrow-minded autocrat, who has set as her mission in life the transformation of Scout from tomboy to proper Southern belle. Part of this process is subjecting the young girl to a social gathering of middle-aged women who assemble for the purpose of gossiping while sipping coffee and eating food. In chapter tweny-four of Lee’s novel, the social gathering takes place, and it is in this context that Scout observes that “this was part of her [Aunt Alexandra's] campaign to teach me to be lady.”

Aunt Alexandra had advised Scout that the “business part” of the gathering would be too boring for Scout to sit through, but that the young girl’s presence would be expected during the refreshments segment of the event. Reference to Scout’s unexpected and highly unusual appearance at this gathering was made by her one true ally at the gathering, Miss Maudie. Observing that Scout is dressed far more formally than usual, Miss Maudie asks “where are your britches today,” prompting Scout’s reply, “Under my dress.” Scout is the proverbial fish out of water, sitting in a dress among the older women with their proper manners and displays of hypocrisy. Scout discovers to her dismay that the refreshments part of the event is as boring as the business part, an observation that provides for her comment, “Aunt Alexandra had got it backwards: the business part of the meeting was bloodcurdling, the social hour was dreary.”

The gathering of Maycomb socialites in the Finch home, occurring in the context of Atticus Finch’s defense of Tom Robinson, a black disabled man wrongly convicted of raping a white woman, has lent to the social event a degree of tension that might otherwise not been evident. Maycomb’s citizenry has been deeply divided by the trial, and the women assembled in the Finch home represent the broad spectrum of humanity, from ignorant, narrow-minded bigots to more liberally-inclined supporters of impartial justice. That divide is represented on one side by Mrs. Merriweather and on the other by Miss Maudie. The reference to the latter’s icy brevity and deep anger emanates from Miss Maudie’s response to the Mrs. Merriweather suggesting that Atticus is responsible for the tensions and racial animosities prevalent in Maycomb. While the assembled women sit in Atticus’ home, eating food paid for with his money, Mrs. Merriweather launches into a thinly-veiled tirade, critical of the decent, intelligent lawyer’s role in the trial of Tom Robinson. When Maudie responds by asking, “His food doesn’t stick going down, does it,” she is criticizing Mrs. Merriweather’s hypocrisy, ingratitude, and ignorance. Miss Maudie’s anger is evident to all assembled, especially to Scout.

Miss Maudie's rhetorical question about food represents the use of figurative language, as the food is not literally sticking in anyone's throat. The food is easily swallowed and digested; it merely represents the fruit of Atticus Finch's labors—labors that were the target of a great deal of animosity by many of Maycomb's bigoted citizenry. The tone in Miss Maudie's language is angry and intended to illuminate the bigotry, ignorance, and hypocrisy present in the room.