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How is Scout Finch much like Boo Radley in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird in the sense of being a "mockingbird"?

In To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses the mockingbird to symbolize innocence and purity.  Like the mockingbird, though Scout may have her flaws just like the rest of us, she can generally be considered innocent and pure, characteristics that actually develop more fully as the novel progresses.

We learn of the symbol of the mockingbird and its meaning in two different places. First, in Chapter 10, Atticus warns Jem and Scout not to shoot at any mockingbirds with their new Christmas air riffles, saying, "[I]t's a sin to kill a mockingbird." When Scout asks Miss Maudie for an explanation, Miss Maudie agrees with Scout's father and tells her the following:



Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. (Ch. 10)



The symbolism of the mockingbird is further revealed when, after Tom Robinson's unfortunate death, Mr. Underwood, editor and owner of The Maycomb Tribune, draws a parallel between Robinson and a mockingbird, saying, as Scout paraphrases, "[I]t was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping" (Ch. 255). Scout further paraphrases, "He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children" (Ch. 25). Since mockingbirds are songbirds, we know that when Mr. Underwood uses the word songbird, he too is thinking of mockingbirds and calling Robinson an innocent man.

Early in the novel, though it is a bit more difficult to see Scout as an innocent songbird due to her tomboyish nature and other character flaws, as the novel progresses, Scout's nature actually improves and becomes more benevolent. At the start of the novel, Scout is a nuisance by virtue of the fact that she has a hotheaded temper, which makes her quick to pick physical fights. She is also guilty of prejudiced and racist beliefs, which can be seen in her reactions towards and treatment of Arthur (Boo) Radley and in the fact that she refers to Tom Robinson as "just a Negro" when Dill explains to her why he started crying during Robinson's trial (Ch. 19). Yet, by the end of the novel, the obvious kindness Arthur had showered upon her helps her dispel her prejudices, and the outcome of Robinson's trial helps her recognize and begin to reject racist beliefs. She is even infuriated when she hears her third-grade teacher speak out against Hitler's treatment of the Jews after having already heard her say hypocritically slanderous things about Maycomb's African-American population while exiting the courthouse after Robinson's trial. Scout's temper has even been quieted, and she no longer reacts violently.

Hence, by the end of the novel, Scout has developed into the sort of songbird that does nothing but strive to give people pleasure all day long. She even best exemplifies her mockingbird-like nature when, the night Arthur rescues the children, she shows him the respect he deserves by escorting him home with her arm linked through his so that they looked like a proper gentleman and lady walking together to any prying eyes, like those of Miss Stephanie Crawford.

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