Examples Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

When one loses their innocence, it changes their outlook on life and causes them to have a sudden realization that the world is not as peaceful and bubbly as it seems. Throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout learns many lessons about the reality from the adults in her life that cause her innocence to fade away as she matures. Scout witnesses prejudice, racism and hypocrisy in her small town of Maycomb, causing the tree of her innocence to lose its leaves and grow back into understanding.
To start, Scout sees numerous prejudiced acts in Maycomb. Prejudice is based on favoritism, unfairness and bias against other groups of people. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout learns that the prejudice of white people against coloured people

plays a hand in proving the Tom guilty. Scout discovers that this is merely the way of life for the citizens of Maycomb and it “seems only the children weep” (Lee, 285) at the act of inequality and discrimination. Scout is dumbfounded at this example of prejudice and hatred along with Jem and Dill. When she turns to Atticus for an explanation, his comfort is very evident, “they’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again” (285). Another act of prejudice and discrimination Scout witnesses is when she tags along with Jem and Dill to sneak out of the house and spots a lynch mob around Atticus near the jail he is guarding. Later, she questions Atticus about why Mr. Cunningham was not being friendly by mentioning that “last night he wanted to hurt [Atticus]” (210), Atticus responds by informing Scout and Jem that a mob is “always made up of people, no matter what. Mr. Cunningham was part of a mob last night, but he was still a man” (210). Scout begins to learn about the stern prejudice of people who are raised in a racist environment. She learns that a group of people are capable of doing things that they would not ordinarily do on their own. Her innocence about prejudice and discrimination turns into understanding of the matter through events such as, Tom Robinson’s trial and the mob against Atticus.
Secondly, Scout is vastly exposed to racism in her town. This novel is based in the 1930s, which is an era in which racism was very prominent. Cecil Jacobs is one of the student’s in Scout’s school who talks about Atticus in a very disparaging manner, “he had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers” (99). Scout realizes that her father defending Tom Robinson, a coloured person, is scorned by the people in Maycomb. Furthermore, an occasion in which Scout loses innocence due to witnessing racism is when she and Calpurnia visit the First Purchase African M.E. Church. When they first arrive, Lula, a coloured woman, tells Calpurnia that she “ain’t got no business bringin‘ white chillun [to a African-American church]” (158). This is significant since it is a shock to Scout that even a place like a church, where people worship the same God, goes through racial discrimination. Scout begins to understand in situations such as these that the world can be a cruel place where blacks and whites are not treated equally.
Lastly, another aspect contributing to Scout’s loss of innocence is hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is the act in which one does not conform to their own beliefs or rules. Mrs. Gates, Scout’s teacher, talks to her class about Hitler’s wrong doing in persecuting the innocent Jews and says that she “doesn’t believe in persecuting anybody” (329). This leaves Scout puzzled, since earlier she remembers overhearing a conversation in which Mrs. Gates tells Miss Stephanie Crawford, “it’s time somebody taught ’em a lesson, they were gettin‘ way above themselves” (331). Scout cannot understand how someone can say they hate Hitler and defend the Jews he is annihilating and then “turn around and be ugly about folks right at home” (331). Aunt Alexandra’s missionary circle is another example in which Scout is exposed to hypocrisy. The missionary circle consists of the Maycomb County ladies, eating, socializing and discussing J. Grimes Everett’s missionary work in Africa. One of the women in the group, Mrs. Merriweather, releases her hypocrisy while telling Mrs. Farrow, “Gertrude, I tell you there’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. Their mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have one of ‘em in the kitchen. You know what I said to my Sophy, Gertrude? I said, ’Sophy,‘ I said, ’you simply are not being a Christian today. Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and complaining” (310). After talking about the terrible conditions of the Mruna tribe in Africa and providing financial aid and support to Christianize them, Scout notices how she does not mention doing the same for the town’s coloured people, who are unhappy with the conviction of Tom Robinson and her talk about nearly firing her maid Sophy for being a “sulky darky” (310). Hypocrisy impacts Scout’s innocence as she learns that in the real world, not everyone does as they advise others to

do.
Throughout the novel, Scout is exposed to many acts of prejudice, racism and hypocrisy, causing a loss of her innocence as she comes to understand that not everyone is treated equally in this world based on their race, financial status or opinion. She learns that prejudice affects many people’s opinions and thoughts, racism impacts how badly white and black people treat each other and hypocrisy demonstrates that not everyone can be trusted in this cruel world. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird paints the perfect representation of the brutality of reality. Willingly or not, Scout receives an education and true understanding about the harshness of the world and with that, her innocence can never return.