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How Does Lee Present The Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Harper Lee’s most iconic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a story of prejudice and racism. The novel takes place in the depression stricken town of Maycomb County and follows a girl named Scout as she learns and experiences the good and evil taking place in her community. As suggested by the title, the mockingbird plays an important role in the book as it represents innocence and the slaying of one represent the loss of innocence. The symbolic mockingbirds in To Kill a Mockingbird are Boo Radley, Jem and Tom Robinson. The first mockingbird in the novel is Arthur (Boo) Radley. He has done nothing but help and protect Jem and Scout yet he is still seen as a monster by them. The community of Maycomb County has little knowledge of Boo and because …show more content…

He is a black man who wrongly convicted for the raping and abusing Mayella. There is no evidence that Tom Robinson had raped or beaten Mayella and Atticus proves that it was impossible for him to have beaten her when he tells him to stand up to let Mayella identify him as her attacker. “Tom Robinson’s powerful shoulders rippled under his thin shirt. He rose to his feet and stood with his right hand on the back of his chair. He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he was standing. His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use to him. ‘Scout,’ breathed Jem. ‘Scout, look! Reverend, he’s crippled!’” (p. 248). Because Tom’s left arm is crippled, there is no way that he could have beaten Mayella as she was beaten by a left-handed man. He is innocent yet he is harmed as he is wrongly arrested and killed, making him a symbolic mockingbird. Tom is also a symbolic mockingbird because he is arrested for hurting Mayella even though he is ironically the only person in Maycomb who is able to overlook the fact that she is a Ewell and treat her like a human being. During the trial, when questioned by Mr. Gilmer if he received any money for helping Mayella he replies, “No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time. I was glad to do it, Mr. Ewell didn’t seem to …show more content…

They are all innocent characters who have been harmed even though they themselves are harmless. Atticus says to Jem and Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”, telling them that that seeing things from one’s point of view is the only way that they can be truly understood. Harper Lee places these symbolic mockingbirds throughout her novel to help spread her warnings of the dangers of prejudice. That if one does not take the time to consider things from another person’s point of view, there is a risk that that person will be misunderstood and be

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