To kill a mockingbird represents innocence because as we see throughout the novel, innocent characters are persecuted on the basis of race. Perhaps the biggest instance of innocence being persecuted is the Tom Robinson case. Tom Robinson, a black man is accused of raping a white woman named Mayella by the woman's father Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson Is clearly innocent in this case and that is shown multiple times when Atticus gives concrete examples of how Tom Robinson could not have raped her, which is shown in chapter 17 because she had a mark around her neck and a bruise on her right eye. Bob Ewell claimed Tom Robinson grabbed her neck and punched her, but Tom Robinson lost his left hand when he was younger and does not have part of his left arm. Atticus was the defendant in the Tom Robinson case, and he proudly stood up for Tom. He was called a “Nigger lover” throughout the book because he defended Tom. “What kind of parent would I be if I didn't defend him, sure I was assigned his case but if I didn't try my best to defend him then I couldn't tell anyone else what to do.” Throughout the whole thing Atticus resembles a mockingbird, he is innocent and he is defending an innocent man. Jem and Scout also experience this in a way many people including …show more content…
Jem and Scout are the kids of Atticus, and Bob Ewell holds Atticus’s own choices against Jem and Scout. One night Bob Ewell got very drunk, and when he drinks he gets abusive, as shown back in chapter 18 “Is he good to you? Easy to get along with?” “He’s tollable ‘cept when” “except when what? When he drinks? Mayella nodded her head” This scene from the book gives the reader a hint that Bob Ewell is not a nice person when drunk. Bob followed Jem and Scout home one night and attacked them, he grabbed them and had a knife in his hand. Jem pushed him off and he landed on the knife and
“Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess.” (Lee, 101) The following quotation establishes the reason why Atticus has chosen to defend Tom Robinson during the trial. Atticus explains to his children that he knows he doesn’t stand a chance, but he will try anyways, encouraging Scout and Jem to stand up for what they believe is right. “‘Lemme tell you somethin' now, Billy,’ a third said, ‘you know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.’ ‘Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That's what I don't like about it.’”(Lee, 218) Despite what people might think, Atticus continues to go along with what he believes is right even when people are judging
In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird innocence is spread throughout the novel. Innocence is connected to the mockingbird because they do nothing but sing. There are three examples of innocence within the novel; Boo Radley, Mayella Ewell, and Tom Robinson.
In Part 1 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces Atticus Finch as a father who rejects ideas or practices of racism. At school, Scout hears Cecil Jacob shout that her father, Atticus, is defending ‘niggers’. Later that day, when Scout asks her father what Cecil meant, Atticus explains that he is defending a Negro named Tom Robinson. Scout was stunned by his unexpected response. When Scout asks why, Atticus responds, “I’m simply defending a Negro… for a number of reasons. The main one is if I didn't I couldn't hold my head up in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” (86) By accepting Tom Robinson’s case without a single argument, Atticus really shows his civility towards Negroes, even when they are not respected by anyone else in the state. Atticus seeks to treat Tom as an individual while rejecting racism in all forms, both language, and behavior. Not only does this show his belief in racial equality, but it also shows his courage.
Innocence, a lesson that Jem and Scout learned about in the trial of Tom Robinson, they learned that innocence is a key factor in the court. In other words, innocence could help you in many ways. In chapter 17 - 20 shows that Tom Robinson’s innocence and Atticus’s statement made Mayella and Bob Ewell show their guilt. But, only the blacks
The Tuskegee Institute has recorded 3,446 black and 1,297 white people have been lynched between 1882 and 1962, most of these people were innocent and even the guilty among them did not deserve a death sentence, sadly no one tried to defend them. Unlike Atticus and Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird no one defended the innocent. The main idea of To Kill A Mockingbird is to protect the innocent this is shown throughout the book with many characters but primarily with Atticus Finch and Boo Radley.
The characters in To Kill A Mockingbird and the people in our society don’t understand our world until they’ve experienced a loss of innocence. Growing up is a hard part of life. When people are younger, they’re naive and not aware of anything outside their home. When experiencing loss of innocence, people are more aware of right and wrong. People are beginning the rules and concepts of life. Experiencing a life lesson can lead to a loss of innocence. People are finally maturing and understanding situations from others perspectives.
In the novel, Atticus is called a "nigger-lover" on multiple occasions because he is fighting for a black man in the court. Atticus does not pay attention to these insults because he knows it doesn't matter. In the book, Atticus tells Jem that "In our courts, when it’s a white man's word against a black man's, the white man's always wins. They're ugly but those are the facts of life."(Lee 220). By saying this it makes you realize what life was like for a black man in that era. They stood no chance against a white man, and there was nothing they could do about it. Tom, Mr. Raymond, Reverend Sykes, and Calpurnia were all treated differently due to the way people in Maycomb thought. Racism was a big issue in Maycomb county, and Atticus called it "a fact of life"(Lee 220). The Scottsboro boys were faced with racism just like Tom. They did not have the fair trial that they should've gotten, but it didn't stop them (Linder). The boys were first faced biased when they were accused of raping Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. Then they were faced with whit bias in the first trials with all white, racist juries. When the boys were faced with racism and prejudice they kept fighting for freedom in a white man's world. The Scottsboro boys and Atticus showed that you can defend the innocent even if they are black and stand up in the fight for an anti-racist world
We all start out innocent, but who has the right to claim what is good and what is evil. Even when people are evil they still have a little bit of that innocence that they were born with. Usually there’s happy ending in stories. The hero overcomes evil and good almost always wins. The innocent people are left out of all the horrible things that happen, but not in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In this book, Atticus is a guy who is trying to save Tom’s life. Tom got in trouble with the law when Bob Ewell blamed Tom for the abuse on his daughter instead of himself. Southern gothic literature is a form of literature that focusing on fictional stories that can be
Atticus displays these characteristics of positive morals, dignity and fairness by defending rape accused Tom Robinson and trying to provide him with a credible defence against the wishes and social norms of the community, however Atticus Finch abided by the social norms of the community while livingin a racially segregated community, carrying on with his day to day life in such a community, while using “white only” parks and white only buses without directly challenging the racist legal system and Atticus Finch did not dispute the fact that Tom Robinson is tried before an all-white jury and that it was fairly reasonable to assume that they would convict him of rape as a predetermined outcome on the mere fact that he was a black man and she was a white
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird the most commonly identified theme is the loss or destruction of innocence. Innocence has a number of meanings and a lot of these are shown within the story. The main ones represented in the book are, the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense, lack of guile or corruption, having purity, and freedom from guilt or sin especially through lack of knowledge of evil. There are characters who include Jem and Scout, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley who show their definition of innocence through the book. Each of these characters who has their innocence goes down a path where they lose it and they have to take on the world face to face.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Atticus Finch said “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”(pg 119). This quote is important because of the message it gives which is innocence of certain people in the book. Some of the examples are when Jem and Scout start looking at things from different people’s point of view,when the mob left because of Scout ,and when Atticus told the court to do their job.
Tom Robinson enters To Kill a Mockingbird accused of raping Mayella Ewell but leaves To Kill a Mockingbird dead. Atticus Finch the defendant in Tom Robinson’s case and the father of Jem and Scout, did not fail Robinson, Robinson’s family or his own because he tried his best to prove that Tom was not guilty. For example , Miss Ewell explained that the attacker in her testimony, Tom Robinson had force himself on her, began to hold to her by the neck and hit her repeatedly after she asked him to bust up a chiffarobe for her. Heck Tate, the sheriff and witness of the trial had said Mayella only had bruises on both the neck and right side of her face, this now raised a red flag for Atticus. For Robinson to beat Miss Ewell repeatedly on the right side of her face he would have to use his left arm which got caught in a cotton gin years before. The disability that Tom Robinson had created great evidence for Atticus’s defense but didn’t work because of the unjust community they both live in. Maybe it would have worked if the trial was held in a courtroom that is built on justice for all, not just for the white.
In this novel, innocence is represented from all ages yet all still contribute to the mockingbird factor. Charles Baker “Dill” Harris doesn’t develop and mature throughout the story. In this way, he is seen as a mocking bird because he’s innocent by his childish actions. His childish actions flow throughout To Kill A Mockingbird and he never changes this lifestyle, because that’s all he knows how to do. An example of this is in the court scene when we wasn’t aware of what’s going on, “Dill leaned across me and asked Jem what Atticus was doing”(Lee 254). In this scene the children snuck into the courthouse to listen to Atticus defend Tom Robinson, and Dill is questioning what is happening in the court.This scene is an example of
The next type of “innocence” evident in the novel would be legalistic innocence, which means that this person has not broken any laws of the country. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are shown as being legalistically innocent in the novel. In fact, they share many similarities even though one is white and the other is black. In my opinion, both of these men are “mockingbirds”, however, in this case one is shot and the other is forced to kill. In addition, Boo and Tom are both handicapped in a way; Harper Lee hints that Boo may be mentally unstable whereas Tom is physically unstable as he is unable to use his left arm. But Tom’s race would be his biggest disability yet.
The Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence in To Kill a Mockingbird: “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. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Lee 90). Ms. Maudie is trying to explain to the kids that it is a sin to kill something innocent. The Mockingbird does nothing harmful to them they just sing songs to the humans . There are many connecting symbols in To Kill a Mockingbird. Not only do many things in the book such as mockingbirds there are things in the book that represent these symbols. A mockingbird is innocent, keeps to itself, makes others happy much like Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Scout Finch throughout the novel.