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Examples Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Mockingbirds in Maycomb

Hate, poverty, violence and mockingbirds. All of these resided in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930's. The mockingbird is a peaceful, beautiful, and innocent bird, it goes throughout its day singing and scavenging not causing anyone harm. Yet, it is still pursued by young children in the town. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee utilizes the innocence of the mockingbird and the turmoil in Maycomb to symbolize how the world's evil effects every one of our lives and the initial judgment we pass on others; causing the unfair judgment and pursuit of innocent people, she uses Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Tim Johnson to do so.

Boo Radley is overall an innocent and peaceful character. Yet he is ridiculed, bullied, and pursued by both adults and …show more content…

Actually just about anything that went wrong in Maycomb was falsely traced back to Boo. All the children in the town are afraid of him and the adults likewise, so much so that the children would run past the Radley's house every day and wouldn't even attempt to retrieve a ball that ventured into the Radley's yard. Rumors swirled around the schoolyard that if you ate a pecan fallen from the Radley's tree you would surely die. Though Jem and Scout had never laid eyes on him they were mortified and a bit curious of Boo's existence, and their young imaginative minds fueled their fear. "Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging by his tracks; he dined on raw squirrel and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained-- if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time" (16). As the book continues Lee begins to uncover the real Boo. He is an innocent and childlike character and he

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Mockingbirds: Emblems of innocence in To Kill A Mockingbird There are many mockingbirds in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The image of mockingbirds represent many people in the story and how many people take advantage of them for their own benefits. Scout, a young girl who lives in Maycomb is the story’s protagonist. She lives with her brother and father and occasionally meets Calpurnia their cook. For instance, Tom Robinson and Calpurnia are treated differently because of their skin color, however they are very close to the Finch family.

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was a perfect example of the loss of innocence. Innocence is such a pure thing, yet can be injured or destroyed through being around bad things. Pure means many things, but the best definition is being without contamination. Throughout this anecdote the case of Tom Robinson and the introduction to social classes and evil was shown not only to the children, but the adults too. The knowledge shared with them through this story.

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The Civil War tore apart the United States of America in the bloodiest four years of the nation’s history. Though many motifs illustrating the heartbreak of the war made their way into popular culture after its conclusion, one of the most prevalent ideas illustrated the confusion family units experienced as the war pulled varying members of the family in different ideological directions, described most concretely as “brother against brother.” The disunion felt at the familial level paralleled the lack of unity on the national scale, leaving President Abraham Lincoln with the task of bringing the nation back together. Around his second election, both the Union and Confederacy were suffering from the effects of a prolonged war — increasingly

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The townspeople thought Boo was an evil man who caused trouble around the neighborhood because of his past experiences as a child. Boo opens up to Jem and Scout throughout the novel and they see he is really a lonely, caring man in need of a friend. Boo was known as the towns troublemaker and had a bad reputation, many people were scared of him. " Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom people said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People say he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped and windows.

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After getting in trouble for typical rebellious adolescent behavior, Boo Radley has rarely been seen outside of his house. The mystery surrounding him makes others in the town intrigued about the “malevolent phantom” that “went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows” (Lee 10-11). Due to a combination of children’s imaginations and the variety of rumors spread throughout the town, people assumed Boo Radley was “about six-and-a-half feet tall” with “a long jagged scar that ran across his face” and “what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 16). The people of Maycomb were not accustomed to people who differed from them in any way and any minor difference could make them an outcast. When “The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb’s ways”, it was recognized as unusual and it further enhanced the beliefs that Boo Radley was a ‘monster’.

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Some say his hands were bloodstained as he ate squirrels and cats. He was also said to have eaten one of her mother’s fingers when he could not find any. However, Scout believes Boo is just a misunderstood friend. Her naive innocence, helps Scout have the will to give him a chance. When Boo leaves anonymous gifts for Scout and Jem, Jem gives a warning about how an item from the Radley place could kill them.

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The three kids were chatting and Dill wondered what Boo looks like so Jem describes Boo as “about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained… There was an long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most or the time.” (Lee,16) This is the result of what happens when rumors are spread, people are misjudged and sometimes avoided like how Boo is shown throughout the book until the end. Boo Radley is wrongfully judged and admonished when it is just that not many people are circumspect.

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He is prominent in Scout’s younger years as a mysterious, macabre specter that Maycomb leaves alone. “... He dined on raw squirrels and any cat he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained… ” (16). Jem, Scout, and Dill are extremely fascinated by Boo. They go up to his house, attempt to give him a note, and even make up a game to act out a warped, farfetched version of his life story.

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Boo was a man that had been locked up inside his home for many years and nobody had really seen him in a very long time and led to some people’s suspicions. Throughout the book Boo is mentioned as a wild crazy man because that was what he was as a child. It all started one night when Boo and some of his friends were doings things they weren’t suppose to and they got into big trouble. Boo’s father got very upset toward Boo’s actions and kept Him trapped inside his home. Boo being away from the town of Maycomb led people to make up crazy stories about Boo to tell the young kids that don’t know any better.

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Scout and Jem receive airguns for Christmas, Atticus forewarns the children. Mockingbirds are not pests, but represent goodness and innocence. In agreement with their father, Miss Maudie replies. Tom Robinson is a human representation of the mockingbird, where he was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, but was innocent of the crime. Despite the evidence which proved Tom’s incapability of the crime, Maycomb sentences him to death.

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“Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet

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Mockingbirds symbolize innocence, and the idea of killing a mockingbird signifies destroying its innocence. In the book “To kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee, many of the characters can be identified as mockingbirds. They are the innocent people who have been harmed or tainted by evil. This is usually due to inequality. In the novel, there are many examples of inequality.

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“Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird,’’ This is a famous quote from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. In the book a Mockingbird is a sign of innocence and is the symbol for several characters. Including: Tom Robinson, Scout, Jem, Dill, and other characters. Harper Lee shows that the innocent doesn’t always get what they deserve, and they sometimes lose their innocence, but other times it can help them out in risky situations.

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Soon, Jem and Scout mention Boo Radley to their new friend Dill. Being a newcomer to Maycomb, Dill becomes curious and wants to know what Boo is like. In an attempt to give Dill a sense of who he is, “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six and a half feet tall... he dined on raw squirrels... his eyes popped.”

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee many characters are victims of the harsh conditions of Maycomb County. Often those who are seen to be metaphorical mockingbirds are punished the most. A mockingbird is one who only wants and attempts to do good. Characters such as Boo Radley, Jem Finch and Tom Robinson are exemplars of mockingbirds in Maycomb. In the novel it is explained by Atticus that killing a mockingbird is a sin because they do not do anything to harm to us like nesting in corncribs, or eating up the gardens, they only sing for us.

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