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In the end of the novel, the image of the mockingbird is presented again. As Scout understands why Mr. Tate and Atticus decided that Bob Ewell fell...

Atticus and Mr. Tate know that Boo is an innocent being.  He is different from everyone else.  They want to protect him from a murder trial.  They mutually decide to conclude that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife.  This is given as the cause of death by Mr. Tate.


Scout listens to them discuss the matter.  Atticus turns to his daughter and tries to make her understand.  Atticus tells her father that she does understand.  Scout also tells her father that she agrees with Mr. Tate.  Atticus is puzzled.  He does not think his daughter could possibly understand a matter so complex.  Scout expresses her feelings on the matter to her father:



"Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 30)



Scout knows that making Boo face trial would be like killing an innocent mockingbird.  She sees the innocence in Boo.  He saved her life and Jem's.

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