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Tkam 3 Song Analysis

This document analyzes how three songs relate to themes and events in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It discusses how Taylor Swift's "No Body, No Crime" mirrors the trial of Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of rape. It also explains how Billie Eilish's "Getting Older" reflects the maturation of the novel's child protagonists, Scout and Jem. Finally, it summarizes how The Carpenters' "Step on Me" represents the treatment of Helen Robinson after her husband is convicted and lynched for a crime he did not commit.

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64 views3 pages

Tkam 3 Song Analysis

This document analyzes how three songs relate to themes and events in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It discusses how Taylor Swift's "No Body, No Crime" mirrors the trial of Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of rape. It also explains how Billie Eilish's "Getting Older" reflects the maturation of the novel's child protagonists, Scout and Jem. Finally, it summarizes how The Carpenters' "Step on Me" represents the treatment of Helen Robinson after her husband is convicted and lynched for a crime he did not commit.

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api-578957926
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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3 song analysis on TKAM

No Body, No Crime by Taylor Swift


One of the main plot points in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is the trial of Tom
Robbinson. Tom Robbinson was put on trial after being accused of raping a white girl named
Mayella Ewell. Throughout the song ‘No body, No Crime” by Taylor Swift, we are able to
relate the song to the trial. Mayella tries to convince the jury that Tom raped her, “She says, I
think he did it but I just can’t prove it” since there were no real eye witnesses. The closest
witness was Mayella’s father, Bob Ewell, who only saw Tom fleeing. All throughout the song
we can see many sides and people pointing fingers, exactly like the novel. In both the song and
novel, people believe different things, some people “think she did it, but they just can’t prove
it” while “she thinks [he] did it but she just can’t prove it”. The defense lawyer, Atticus Finch,
and even his son, Jem, believed “somebody’s gotta catch him out” because it was clear to see
that Robbinson was innocent, and Bob, in fact, hit Mayella himself. But the song and novel
both didn’t see the plain obvious culprit, so Tom was found guilty, and in the song, taylor was
never caught. This is why the similarities between Taylor Swift's ‘No Body, No Crime’, and the
Tom Robbinson trial is clear.
Getting Older by Billie Eilish
To Kill A Mockingbird follows two main characters, Scout and Jem, brother and sister.
This book follows these two siblings over the course of three years, Scout grows from age 6 to
9, and Jem ages from 10 to 13. However, a song that can easily put into words their growing
process is a song called “Getting Older” By Billie Eilish. It easily puts to words Jem going
through puberty, and scouts feelings about less connection and appreciation from her brother.
The lyrics also show us the loss of innocence that Billie feels, while it also applies to Jem and
Scout. Scout was always reliant on her brother so when he started distancing himself because of
his hormones changing, she often felt disconnected from him. A line that could reflect scouts'
thoughts could be, “I’m getting older, I think I’m aging well. I wish someone had told me I’d
be doing this by myself”, this clearly illustrates how Scout feels on her experience growing up.
Another issue with them growing, is the town's expectations of the Finch Family, because “It’s
different when a stranger is always waiting at [their] door” for Scout to act like a lady and Jem
to act like a man. “[They’re] getting older, [they’ve] got more on [their] shoulders” now, and
with Jem ‘being irrational’ since his body is developing, people would shoo him off as if he
wasn’t accountable to anything he said. Even “when [he] wasn’t honest, [he] was still being
ignored”, and he still got brushed off as if he weren’t important. However, a good thing they
both learned from growing up during the novel was that they were “getting better at admitting
when [they’re] wrong” and learning to stand in someone else’s shoes, just like Atticus said.
Step on me by The Carpenters
While the Robbinson verdict was built off bias and racism, after he was sentenced to
prison and then killed not that long later, it left his wife in a tough position. Helen Robbinson
got treated with disrespect and with immorality. She was shunned by the community and
harassed by the Ewells. “Step on me” By the Carpenters is a perfect representation of her
thoughts and feelings towards the town after the trial. Since Helen was black and her deceased
husband, who was accused and found guilty of rape, was also black, everyone already would
“go on and step on [her]”. But after her trial she was hated even more, and all she could think
was that they’re “free to have everything [they] see, all that [they] want from [her]” mostly
because of the major racial conflict happening during the time of the novel. Helen was heart
broken and her town didn’t help her, especially the Ewell’s, all they did was torment her and to
her, a line that could explain how she feels would be, “I think you’re holding the heart of mine,
squeeze it apart, that's fine”, because there was seriously nothing she could do about it. In
1933, the racism against black people was still awful, and all she could do was wait until
someone finally helped her, or until they forgot about her. “Step on me” created an
environment that could match Helen and her rough experiences after her husband's trial.

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