"Atticus said to Jem one day, "I'd rather you shot
at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go
after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you
can hit `em, but remember it's a sin to kill a
mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard
Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I
asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your father's right,"
she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except
make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up
people's gardens, don't nest in corn cribs, they
don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.
That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
American Rhetoric: Movie Speech
"To KiII A Mockingbird" (1962)
Atticus Finch delivers his Closing Argument at the Trial of Tom Robinson
Finch: To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The State has not
produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with
ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose
evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross examination, but
has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. Now there is circumstantial evidence
to indicate that Mayel la Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led, almost
exclusively, with his left [hand]. And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having
Now what did she do? She tempted a negro. She was white and she tempted a negro.
taken "The Oath" with the only good hand he possesses his right.