Essay On Identity In To Kill A Mockingbird

Individual identity is defined by our hardships. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee suggests that adversity shapes an individual’s identity through loss of innocence. Harper Lee conveys the idea that going through adversities often reveals something we would rather not know about society. When people are faced with adversity, they are given the truth of how people differ and how society works to influence us. This idea is presented in a few instances: When Scout is told she is not allowed to read, the sentencing of Tom Robinson, and the events of the jailhouse scene. These events provide evidence Adversity gives us a realization of the world

Scout is presented with the idea of loss of identity through adversity when she is told by Miss Caroline that she is not to learn how to read.

Mr. Walter Cunningham is given a new perspective from Scout. Scout reminds Walter of his family and entailment. Walter realized what he is doing, imagining if he was in Atticus’ situation. Walter lost his innocence to society’s rules when he realized how powerful society can be. Society took control over Walter by convincing him that society’s views are always right , he just needed Scout to remind him of what is really important. Mr. Cunningham does not want to steal something from Atticus or Tom that he would not want anyone stealing from him: his family. In the same instance, Jem and Scout together realize how people will go to extremes as to not change society’s rules. Once again, the children are faced with the fact that society plays a bigger role in people’s decision making than their conscience does. People will go to harsh measures because they are afraid of change. Scout’s decision to “...tackle his entailment once more in a last-ditch effort to make him feel at home” (Lee, Page 205) brought to the attention of Mr. Cunningham that there is more to life than what society tells