Essay 1.
The title of To Kill a Mockingbird is very critical to the story and is shown throughout the book. The title of the book means to destroy innocence. There are varying examples of destroyed innocence in the story. A “mockingbird” is someone who is innocent; in the way of doing no wrong or in the way of being young. Tom Robinson is one of the many characters in the story that could be considered a mockingbird. During Tom’s court case where he was convicted of raping Mayella, he was declared not guilty, because of the fact that he was a black man in 1960. Inequality destroyed Tom Robinson’s innocence. A second character that could be considered a mockingbird is Boo Radley. When Boo was younger, people called him Arthur and treated him
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Innocence often has two definitions; being young or of no wrongdoing. Both of these definitions are exemplified throughout the book. In the plot, Scout has an innocent outlook on the world. She doesn’t understand or take part in many of the “monsters” of Maycomb such as racism and sexism. The readers are shown throughout the book through Atticus that Tom Robinson is innocent. Boo Radley’s story also is a story of innocence through the story. First, Harper Lee leads on that Boo is thought of as some mysterious, murderous, creep. Though, later, we learn that Boo is an innocent human trying to do the right thing to the best of his abilities. Scout even says that she herself believes that Boo is a mockingbird; in chapter 30 when Atticus explains how Bob “fell on the knife” and she says, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin‘ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” Boo Radley also leaves Scout and Jem things inside of the tree that they find on their way home from school. From that, the readers can also conclude that Boo Radley is a mockingbird because mockingbirds are rarely seen, but sing to cheer people up. Innocence is the most important and a greatly prevalent theme in To Kill a