An example of an inheritance pattern that occurs equally in both sexes and skips generations is autosomal recessive inheritance. This means that for a child to inherit the trait or disorder, both parents must be carriers of the recessive gene. The trait may not appear in every generation due to the need for both parents to be carriers.

The mad dog in TKM symbolises racism in the small town of Maycomb. When it roams the streets of the neighbourhood, all the citizens hide away in their houses with the windows and doors all shut and board up - this symbolises the way the citizens of Maycomb are ignorant of their racist and prejudice ways. Atticus Finch 'One-shot finch', is the only one that makes a stand to racism in the book - this is well represented by the fact that it is he who shoots the dog and kills it.

1. Tim Johnson is portrayed as a dog with rabies because like prejudice it spreads throughout the south. Atticus is seen as the hero because he is fighting "prejudice."

Atticus is not allowing racism to spread any farther. This situation parallels with the Tom Robinson case. Tim also symbolises the way the citizens of Maycomb are ignorant of their racist and prejudice ways. All the citizens run away and try to hide from it just like they do with racism.