Preview

To Kill A Mockingbird Loss Of Innocence Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1415 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To Kill A Mockingbird Loss Of Innocence Essay
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper lee (1960) there is an underlying theme of loss of innocence and the struggle for equality. Harper lee emphasizes the loss of innocence in the children and that everyone grows up. She also brings to the reader's attention the issue of equality and the struggles that surround that. Jem, Scout, and Dill all grow up in different ways, they all become aware of their surroundings and the world that is forming around them. Overall all children grow up in this book and realize that there is a struggle between the ideal and real worlds.
Harper lees underlying theme of the struggle between the ideal and the real worlds is apart of learning who people really are, they might not be what people think. In a scene between scout and atticus scout learns a very important lesson which is “‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (39). Scout has an ideal about Boo Radley but atticus says teaches her that not everything is as it seems.This shows scout's innocence and how she needs to climb into another's skin to understand them. This shows the beginning of her “coming of age”. This sparks Scouts want to know Boo Radley and Scouts want to understand things. During this book Scout is realizing that the world
…show more content…
The trial was a rape case, it was against Mayella Ewell who was White and Tom Robinson who was black. So not only was it a rape case but it was a case against races, these are two topics that really took the children into the real world. This shows the children growing up and accepting things that happen in the real world weather they are good or bad. This shows loss of innocence.This shows that the trial handles mature content and it can bring the children out of their “ideal” worlds and into the real

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    As people grow in life, they mature and change in many different ways. Harper Lee is the author of To Kill a Mocking Bird. This book is about Scout Finch and her life in the 1930’s in Maycomb County, Alabama. Harpe, shows how Scout matures and progresses in this book along with many other things. For example Scout, the main character, realizes her town is racist after the Tom Robinson trial. Harper also informs the reader about things Scout does not understand throughout the book. One of the things she demonstrates is the reason why Jem, Scout’s brother, is acting different. She does not know what people act like at that age because she is a lot younger, so all of his behavior is new to her. One of the other examples Harper shows is the very unique relationship between Miss Caroline, Scout’s teacher, and Scout. They would like each other, but Miss Caroline’s teaching strategy is bad for Scout because she is able read.…

    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first example of loss of innocence is seen in To Kill a Mockingbird. When Jem asked Atticus about the mob surrounding him. This was the first time that he realized that racist gangs such as the Ku Klux Klan were a threat. Jem was scared for his father because he realized that his father was in a bad situation. This is seen here: “They were after you, weren’t they?” Jem went to him. “They wanted to get you, didn’t they?” ( Lee 146). During the 1930’s the idea of equal rights between different ethnicities was very popular. This affected almost everyone's life. Throughout the book the reader can see both Jem and Scout become more familiar with the idea of racism. As they learned more about it, they also developed their own theories and stances…

    • 218 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone grows up, but at different rates and different ways. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a girl named Scout and her brother, Jem, who grows up in Maycomb County a time when racism was very common in Alabama. Their father, Atticus Finch, is a defense attorney who helps defend Tom Robinson, an African American, from being accused of rape. The book takes place in the 1930s after the Great Depression while also struggling for Civil Rights. From beginning to end, Scout innocently grows up by first childishly making fun of Boo Radley, beginning to understand what goes on in her town, and growing to develop to become feminine female.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout grew up to the mystery of Boo Radley as she often heard rumors and gossip throughout town. Boo Radley was feared among the children and frowned upon by the adults, but the moment he saved Jem from Mr. Ewell everything changed, especially Scout’s perspective. When Scout met him she realized the gossip was mostly misunderstandings, but even so, she noticed that Boo Radley was much simpler than what Maycomb saw him out to be. In Scout’s eyes, he was only a lonely man with no friends. When Scout walked alongside Boo Radley, leading him back home, something changed within her when she stepped onto the Radley’s porch. One of the similarities between the book and movie is the quote that was said during this distinctive scene, “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.” (pg. 279) This quote relates back to Atticus’s words in chapter three, “You never really understand a person...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (pg. 30), but this time, Scout finally succeeds in understanding a different perspective of the world for the first time. When she turns back and walks down the street, she sees the town in a completely new light, almost as if she is looking at it through Radley’s eyes. While she goes down the road the book reads, “I…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mocking bird by Harper Lee is about the journey of Jean Louise ‘Scout' Finch, an innocent good hearted five year old child with no experiences with the evils of the world. Through out the novel Scout grows and learns as she encounters the world in new light as she grows up during the depression in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the USA. Harper Lee intentionally directs the reader to take the point of view of Scout so they can experience the unbiased perspective of her. Lee manipulates the readers to see the truth and develop with Scout as she journeys from ignorance to enlightenment. A novel that depicts personal growth such as Scouts is called a bildungs roman, Lee present this growth in various ways through conventions…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, loss of innocence is seen specifically with the characters of Jem Finch and Boo Radley.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a young girl grows up, there are many stages of childhood she experiences, full of drama, tears and emotions. Going through all of this makes a person realize and accept their mistakes, mature and change. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, published in 1960, Scout Finch, the protagonist, matures throughout the story. This is caused by all the occurring events in Maycomb, the Finch’s hometown. The 6-year old Jean Louise Scout Finch, who has no experience with the evils of the world, has to face a transformation from an aggressive tomboy to a real lady. As she transforms, the interactions with Boo Radley let her gain perspective and learn how to treat others equally. Thus, she determines to cope alone after observing racial prejudice when the entire community criticizes her father for defending a Black man.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Maturation

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To Kill A Mockingbird, authored by Harper Lee, is an American novel of growth and maturation because it focuses on the character development of Scout as she comes to understand the world. This classic novel is set in a racially charged southern town during the Great Depression. The main character and narrator, a young girl named Scout, develops and changes from the conversations and actions that happen in the book. Scout’s direct maturation and learning of life lessons develops by witnessing the hypocrisy of her hometown Maycomb, Alabama, and her father, Atticus, being a major influence in her development.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee and, published in 1960. Classic novels should say something of value. They may draw attention to issues within human condition. These issues usually transcend time, remaining relevant to later generations. In To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAM hereafter), Harper Lee draws attention to the societal issues covering themes of coexistence of good and evil, the importance of moral education and the existence of social inequality. These themes are explored through the characters of Scout Finch, Bob Ewell and Tom Robinson.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee tells a story of innocence in our lives. Harper seeks the theme of innocence in several different ways, such as symbolism of a mockingbird, when violence increases innocence goes away and how Tom Robinson, exposes another aspect of innocence, as he is punished for a crime that he didn’t commit simply because of his race.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earnest Hemingway states that “all things truly wicked start from innocence.” This quote applies to Mayella Ewell as she corrupted herself and her innocence throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Though Mayella may seem wholesome, she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing due to her part in the death of a virtuous, innocent man and then her part in the tormenting of the dead man’s wife. In chapter twenty-five, Scout realizes that “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed,” (Lee 323) while she was pondering how a clearly innocent man could be tried as guilty (Lee 323). This quote illustrates how Mayella seemingly did worse than kill a man; she also had him declared guilty of a false crime, staining his reputation. To outsiders it will seem as if he was righteously killed, and what…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As most people have read the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, many have wondered, what contributes most to the story’s themes? Well, throughout the novel, there are three main literary elements that come into play. In the passage “‘It ain’t right, Atticus…”’(pg.284) to “I looked up, and his face was vehement”(pg.296), Harper Lee uses the literary element character, setting, and tone to develop the theme that recognizing perspectives contributes to coming of age. As many other themes in the novel, the theme will show a change in how Jem starts to view the world, and the major roles included in it, such as racism. But his perspective comes mostly from the kind of character he is.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Harper Lee published an amazing novel in 1960 that would change lives for years to come. In her novel, Lee portrays her childhood through a story about a little girl and her family who all live in a small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. The story revolves around the lives of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, her brother Jem, and their father Atticus. In the story, Harper Lee expresses one major theme: the only way to truly understand other people is by considering their perspective. This could resolve bigotry, racism, and class warfare in society.…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Losing one’s innocence, or rather the simple act of growing up is inevitable. The children of primary focus in Harper Lee’s classic, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, succumb to their eventual fate by evolving into mature characters with help from the influential events in the town.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why do you think the thought of children growing up sometimes worries elders? In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, A group of young children begin to discover and face the reality and the struggles of their neighborhood. Scout along with her brother and her best friend, Dill start to notice the many wrongs in their town. This book shows the children’s loss of innocence due to racism and other complications in their society.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays