Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee

To many people, childhood is a period of their lives when they can connect with their true self, being completely happy and carefree. Although, at some point, children mature and “grow up”, whether it happens over time or because of a specific event. This theme is prevalent in literature, especially in The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and the film Stand By Me, directed by Rob Reiner, and based on the novel by Stephen King. Each of these literary works teaches the audience what it means to lose childhood innocence through three major points. They all display a character who is forced to mature because of a specific event, and they also realize the harshness and reality of the world.

One point of comparison

between the three literary works that addresses the theme of growing up is experiencing the loss of innocence, or a realization of some kind which comes with a new sense of maturity.

In The Outsiders, the main character Ponyboy experiences a loss of innocence as he watched Johnny Cade in the hospital. Johnny was the smallest member of the gang, and an easy target for the Socs. Sacrificing himself for the well-being of others, Johnny became severely injured. In the hospital, Ponyboy had the realization that “[the members of the gang] needed Johnny as much as he needed [them]. And for the same reason”(121). To Ponyboy, it was obvious that Johnny needed the gang. He needed the companionship, and the feeling of being needed by his friends. However, Ponyboy finally saw the true value that Johnny gave to the gang as he was dying. Ponyboy loses a part of his childhood innocence when he sees how Johnny gave the gang a sense of purpose to protect him instead of facing all of their problems. Also, one of the main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird loses a part of his childhood innocence when he is forced to face the realities of the world. Jem’s confusion about Tom Robinson’s verdict

prompts him to ask his father about the jury’s decision, in which Atticus replied “there’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads-they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life”(220). From the evidence he heard, Jem knew Tom was not guilty. However, he was forced to mature when he came to terms with the harsh truth of the world’s injustices. Both Ponyboy and Jem were forced to “grow up”, and mature when they gained insight on a friend’s value, and the world, respectively. They both lost a part of their childhood learning more about their lives, and took one step closer to adulthood.
Another similarity between the literary works that addresses the theme of growing up is gaining a new perspective of a specific situation.

In each of the three works of literature, the characters look at the world in a different way at some point. After Ponyboy lost Johnny, he went into a daze of loss and sadness. At the end of the novel, Ponyboy finds a letter addressed to him from Johnny, and thinks “it wasn’t only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better”(179). Reading this, Ponyboy takes a step back and realizes that someone needed to share his side of the story, and everyone like him. In the beginning of the story, he was proud of being a Greaser, but was also ashamed of it. At the end, he wanted to show people that greasers and socs are no different than anybody else, and avoid the instant judgement they receive from others. He stepped out of his own shoes and thought about all the other boys who were just like him, and knew he needed to do something. Also, Scout looks at her world in a different way when she takes her father’s advice. As she was standing in the Radley yard, she thought “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”(279). She

finally understands what he means when looking at her neighborhood from Arthur Radley’s perspective. She had poorly judged him in the past without knowing who he was, but finally registers that he is just another neighbor. In the film Stand By Me, Chris Chambers grows up and looks at his life in a new way when he decided to try and give the milk money he stole back to the school. In his entire life, Chris had a reputation for doing the wrong thing. However, he contemplated his decision and tells Gordie, “so let’s just say that I stole the milk money but old lady Simons stole it back from me.” Looking at different situations in a new way is a big part of adulthood that Ponyboy, Scout, and Chris achieved by taking a step back and thinking about their lives.
The three literary works also address the theme of leaving childhood by discussing how the characters find their place and where they belong in the world. In the beginning of The Outsiders, Ponyboy felt like he did not belong in his family. He thought his brother Darry only cared for his other brother Sodapop. He and Darry were always getting into fights and disagreements when one day Sodapop ran out of the house. After Ponyboy and Darry chased him down, he said to them “we’re all we’ve got left. We ought to be able to stick together against everything. If we don’t have each other, we don’t have anything. If you don’t have anything, you end up like Dallas...and I don’t mean dead, either, I mean like he was before. And that’s worse than dead”(176). Sodapop knew of his brothers’ differences, but he knew how important it was to stick together. Dallas was always angry at the world, and at everyone, because he had no one to rely on. Ponyboy realized the truth of the statement and how important he was to not only Sodapop, but to Darry as well. He knew he needed to try harder to be more like a family, because they only have each other. In addition, Chris found his place in the world when “he enrolled in the college courses with [Gordie]. And although it was hard he gutted it out like he always did. He went on to college and eventually became a lawyer.” Nobody ever thought Chris would amount to be anyone of importance. They figured he would end up like his older brother “Eyeball”. However, Chris worked hard and disproved all those who did not believe in him and eventually died saving the life of another. Both Ponyboy and Chris mature greatly when they discovered what it meant to be content with their place in the world. Ponyboy’s was with his family, and Chris’s was disproving every negative thought anyone had about his future.
All three of the literary works were integrated. Their characters have both prominent similarities and differences that relate to the theme of growing up. The three similarities between the literary works were part of a process to mature into adulthood and leave childhood behind. Both Ponyboy and Jem lost a part of their childhood when they discovered the harshness of the world. From that, Ponyboy started to look at his world, and himself, in a different way. Scout also reflects on how wrong she was to judge people before she got to know them, and Chris reflected on himself, and his actions. Because they all matured enough to look at their lives in a different perspective, they finally accepted themselves, and found their place among all the others. All of these characters were forced to mature and “grow up” on their own. Although some people may think growing up comes immediately with age and without any work, that is not the case in these literary works. Growing up and maturing comes with the realization and discovery of oneself and the journey of loss of innocence, new perspectives, and accepting oneself.