Theme Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is best known as a literary classic, telling the tale of a young girl named Jean Louise “Scout” Finch’s childhood in a southern Alabama town during the great depression. While the fate of a black male convicted of rape still looms in the synopsis. To Kill a Mockingbird the title of the novel, refers to a quote on page 119. Both said by Atticus Finch the town of Maycomb's lawyer and Miss Maudie his neighbor, “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”. As said by Miss Maudie “ Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. 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 119). The title of this novel isn’t only referencing this quote,

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.

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

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.

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.

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee provides three characters that symbolize the loss of innocence. These symbols are linked to the mockingbird. They are Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Mayella Ewell.

Tom Robinson, an innocent man was shot in prison after he was wrongly convicted and falsely accused in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This action, along with others is found commonly throughout the book as defenceless characters get hurt and wrongly judged despite their innocent persona. Along with Tom Robinson other characters suffer too, people such as Boo Radley and Atticus Finch suffer from the cruel world around them. In the surrounding chaos, those few characters manage to preserve their innocent nature.

make fun of or judge a guest of the house. In her innocence, she had

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.

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many different themes and ideas to look for. First, Atticus, who is humble and kind, believes it’s never okay to judge a person without walking in their shoes first. Second, the mockingbird is a major symbol of innocence and beauty, along with the process of maturity. Last, any challenging and eye opening events require strength and courage to get through it.

After examining a number of examples, it was evident that varieties of literature share a common theme: innocence is lost through experience. This theme is evident through fictional stories, movies, action novels, and articles.

To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) is a phenomenal book that teaches life lessons that will resonate with any reader for the rest of their life. It’s a book that has two main themes supported by almost every character that was worth noting. One main theme was walking in somebodies shoes, because of the poor times of the depression, it was hard to understand the ways somebody lived. The other main theme was Innocence, which a mockingbird represented. The main characters, Jem, Scout, and Dill, all have to encounter these main themes at some point in their lives in the story.