Loss Of Innocence In 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

A principle of growing up is that at some point, every child goes through a loss of innocence. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, it is easy to see the young characters growing up and beginning to notice things they never noticed before. One character in particular being Jem. He goes through the maturing stage throughout the book and it recognizes how he did so. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem faces a loss of innocence causing him to see from a more mature point of view.

Have you ever experienced an event that changed your opinions or feelings towards a certain thing? This was the case of Jean Louise or Scout in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout shows a loss of innocence throughout the novel as she is faced with the case of Tom Robinson, which impacts her life as a whole by making her realize that not everyone is like Atticus.

"All things truly wicked start from an innocence,” states Ernest Hemingway on his view of innocence. Innocence, what every youth possesses, is more accurately described as a state of unknowing but not ignorance- which connotation suggests a blissfully positive view of the world. Most youth are protected from the harsh realities of the adult world. Therefore they are able to maintain their state of innocence. While innocence normally wanes over time, sometimes innocence can be abruptly taken away. Some of the characters in Truman Capotes In Cold Blood lost their innocence due to the traumatic events they experienced in childhood and adulthood while some had none to begin with.

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 the novel, to kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee presents three very distinct types of innocence that are portrayed by different characters throughout the novel. A good part in this story’s brilliance is that Harper Lee has managed to use the innocence of a young girl to her advantage. She does this by telling the whole story from a child’s point-of-view. By having an innocent little girl make racial remarks and regard people of color in a way consistent with the community, Lee provides the reader with an objective view of the situation. As a child, Scout can make observations that an adult would often avoid. In addition, readers are also likely to be forgiving of a child’s perception, whereas they would find an adult who makes these

Everyday, people of all ages lose their innocence and develop morally through their daily experiences. Children deal with mishaps on the playground, conflicts with friends and family, and trouble in school. Similarly, Adults deal with conflicts within their own families, problems at work, and the loss of a loved one. In each situation, the person is learning important lessons that impact the way a person thinks, acts, approaches situations, and treats others. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem loses his innocence and grows morally through his daily experiences in three stages of understanding in Maycomb, Alabama.

Scout struggles, with varying degrees of success, to put Atticus’s advice into practice and to live with understanding toward others. She doesn’t turn away from Walter Cunningham Jr. just because he is poor and made her get in trouble. At the end of the book, Scout succeeds in comprehending Boo Radley’s perspective. After she drops him off at his house, Scout takes a moment to survey the rest of the world from the Radley porch. “...Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” Scout imagines many of the events of the story (Atticus shooting the mad dog, the children finding Boo’s presents in the oak tree) as they must have looked to Boo. She finally realizes the love and protection that he has silently offered her and Jem from the beginning.

When reflecting on one’s childhood, one either views it as a blissful time in their life, or a hellish society in which they suffered greatly. While both scenarios are very different from one another, it is arguable that both parties experienced a loss of innocence in this time frame.The loss of innocence is something which happens to everybody, sooner or later. Growing up in society, children are exposed to many different concepts. While these concepts play an important role in everyday life, some of them may end up destroying a child’s innocence. Dealing with other people and communicating properly play an essential role in everyday life, but people with malice on their agenda may end up destroying the innocence of others. Even something as simple as learning the countermeasures to deal with the malevolence of others causes a person to lose their innocence. In order to be successful in everyday life, it is necessary for one to confront the harsh reality of our world, which would destroy their innocence.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, losing one's innocence is a major factor in shaping each of the characters personalities and beliefs in the story. By looking at The Inevitably of the Loss of Innocence, we can see that as each of the characters are growing up, they get more shocked by the reality of the harsh world because they have not yet learned hatred in their peers and community and because of the realization that not everybody is kind and has good morals. This is important because Lee displays this theme in the story by creating conflicts such as Tom Robinson's trial and the children's reaction to the verdict. Lee uses characterization for Boo Radley by giving the audience an overview about people's view on him and the horrifying

(page 90) Innocence is shown at the beginning of the book by Jem and Scout, because to them they lived in a perfect world that showed no evil. They are innocents who have been destroyed through contact with evil. The loss of innocence in a way is a coming of age. This happens by an experience in a child's life where they realize the world's darkness instead of only seeing the good side of it.

In many ways, people lose their innocence. The novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton’s main characters are the Socs and the Greasers. The novel shows us a lot of examples of loss of innocence between them. Also in the song, “Nothing Gold” by Stevie Wonder described the sense of innocence pretty well. In the novel and the song, we can find a lot of examples of loss of innocence which is shown through losing someone or something so special and problems people have to face.

Innocence is a state of being that in life could be chosen to be given away or take away, and many things are symbols of the people have. An example is mockingbirds in Harper Lee's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee parallels the killing of mockingbirds to the persecution of Tom Robinson, the prejudice of Arthur-Boo-Radley, and the coming-of-age of Jem Finch to symbolize the destruction of innocence. Tom Robinson's parallel to a mockingbird is in the same way as a person being guilty of something they didn't do. At the end of it all, Tom is shot while he was trying to run away or escape.

This novel is real in its portrayal of the 1930s. As a result, The children in this book are exposed to very graphic things at a young age. This results in a very sped up way of growing up, and Harper Lee gives examples throughout the book that show that loss of innocence or facing harsh realities that exist in the real world. This is shown greatly through the eyes of Jean Louise Finch. She faces the reality of Maycomb’s dark personality and has to see some horrible things. This vastly speeds up how fast she grows up because she has to. It is also to a lesser degree with Jem mostly because he isn't the central focus of the book (To Kill A Mockingbird) so the reader doesn't know his thoughts. The author outlines a great point that the with the loss of innocence comes wisdom and unfortunately hard truth’s.

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.

To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a tiny southern town in Alabama in 1932. The tiny town of Maycomb was home to deep rooted racism. Two children named Scout and Jem live in this town with their father Atticus and when their father is sent to defend a black man their lives see a dramatic change. The children soon learn the harsh truth of their little town and lose a childhood full of innocence. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee foreshadows a loss of innocence through the symbolic significance of building a snowman, a harsh fire, and a mockingbird.