To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Everyone remembers their childhood, how they used to play around every single day, carefree and untroubled. One can remember playing in the mud and carelessly, curious and naively. One can also remember living in their own little world, deaf to the world and issues around him or her. It is something everyone wants to last, but it slips by as quickly as time passes. It is what as known as childhood innocence, the barrier shielding children from the harsh realities of the world around them. The loss of innocence is a stage in life everyone has to pass, which takes place after a significant event in one’s life that destroys their bright and happy views. As highlighted in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, all children are born innocent and care free, but it is inevitable that the innocence will be stripped away as they grow older and are susceptible to the world’s harsh realities. This theme is visible throughout the entire novel, but it is most prevalent in the society in which they live in, the racism that the children are exposed to, and their realization of the true world around them.

To begin, the society that the children are exposed to strips away their innocence.

This is evident throughout the entire court case of Tom Robinson. Harper Lee writes: “I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘Guity… guilty… guilty…’ I peeked at Jem: his shoulders jerked as if each ‘guilty’ was a separate stab between them (Lee 211). This quote demonstrates that Jem and Scout’s awareness of the true society around them begins to shape up into a more of an adult perspective. In the Tom Robinson trial, the jury makes the incorrect verdict of ruling him guilty, although all the evidence proves otherwise. The jury makes the decision base...

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...did it to stop us findin’ things- he’s crazy, I reckon, like they say (Lee 72).’ ” After Jem and Scout place their letter in the knot hole in the Radley tree, it was filled up with cement by Nathan Radley. This was done to prevent Boo from having any contact with the outside world, the same reason he is locked up inside his house. Jem and Scout realize this, and they loose their innocence as a result of their realization of the true nature of human beings in the world. Through these three points, it is proved that the world around them strips away the innocence of the children.

In conclusion, the society in which Scout and Jem live in, the racism that the children are exposed to, and their realization of the true world around them are all examples found in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird that denote the theme of childhood innocence must be inevitably taken away.