Examples Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The illusion of innocence is deeply instilled in the outlook of children. Reality soon takes its grip as kids begin to grow and mature, and they lose their pure qualities that they have once possessed. Their father Atticus shelters Jem and Scout from the town’s disease, teaching them the act of sympathy and how to distinguish the good aspects over glaring at the imperfections of people. The loss of innocence portrayed in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is exposed as the lives of Jem, Scout, and Dill go through their racist and prejudice society, learning how the worlds dreamlike qualities is nothing more than just a childhood fable. The children’s judgment of people and society quickly sheds as Lee displays the harsh realities to Jem, Dill, …show more content…

During the trial, Dill, “started crying and couldn’t stop” (198). Dill becomes impatient with the trial, complaining about how Tom Robinson is being treated. With Dill still having his childish views, the evil he experienced in the trial results in crying. With Tom Robinson being innocent like a mockingbird, Dill is easily wounded and sensitive as he sees the destructive words that an innocent has to hear. To kill a mockingbird is to kill innocence, so one can say that Dill is classified as one as well. Lee shows Dill’s trial experience results as a consequence of killing a mockingbird, since Dill, who is innocent, has been destroyed by the evil of racism. Lee displays the mockingbird’s innocence being killed throughout the novel; Tom Robinson, who is found guilty and then killed for a crime he didn’t do, has been destroyed by the evil of racism. Jem goes through experiences like the trial, which disturbed him that they did not win, but also gives him a more positive way of thinking. Jem is careful to not harm the innocent and fragile after seeing Tom Robinson’s unfair trial. Jem refuses to let Scout kill the roly-poly in the beginning of chapter 25, thinking that the roly-poly has done nothing wrong to any of them. Boo Radley is another example of the death of a mockingbird as his innocence was lost by the evils of mankind. Through Dill, Lee demonstrates his …show more content…

Jems naïve views are soon corrupted as he goes through experiences like with Boo Radley, but Jem manages to grow in strength as he sheds his pure qualities and learns to have hope. Jem and Scouts childhood friend Dill represents another killing of a mockingbird, as his innocence is destroyed during his trial experience. Scouts childish views dissipates as she witnesses different events in her life, and she grows in experience and maturity as she encounters racial prejudice, making her learn how to maintain her pure conscience that Atticus has developed without losing hope or becoming cynical. Harper Lee’s novel explores human morality, as she weaves the path from childhood to a more adult perspective, illustrating the evils in a corrupt world how to understand them without losing

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