Walt Whitman's 1859 poem "Out of the Cradle Rocking Endlessly" depicts the mockingbird as a symbol of innocence that sings or sings good words memories of the past. In contrast, Harper Lee's famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, written almost a century after Whitman's poem, depicts the mockingbird as an innocent but fragile creature with horrible memories – memories of discrimination , isolation and violence. Set in the southern Alabama town of Maycomb, To Kill A Mockingbird takes place during a time of segregation and discrimination. The title of the novel is a little misleading since the mockingbird only appears once, but it has a great symbolic charge throughout the story. In this story of destroyed innocents, they first appear when Jem and Scout learn how to use their new air rifles. Atticus won't teach them how to shoot, but he does give them a rule to follow. "I'd rather you shoot cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after the birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit them, but remember it's a sin of killing a mockingbird. "That was the only time I heard Atticus say that doing something was a sin, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. This connection between the novel's title and its main theme is made explicit several times in the novel. One of the most obvious characters to compare to a mockingbird is Tom Robinson. Tom is an innocent man who has done nothing wrong and he gets screwed twice by the justice system. He is found guilty in court simply because he is black, then shot to death in prison. He was harmless, because he was crippled, and it was completely unnecessary. After Tom Robinson is shot, Mr. Underwood compares his death to the "senseless slaughter of songbirds" (323). Killing Tom did no good and prevented no harm, just like shooting a