Why do you think a mockingbird represents innocence? In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee makes innocence a big theme. In the 1930’s, Caucasian people didn’t make good decisions with respect to how they treated the black community. In the novel, innocence is one of the themes in the book; there are a variety of characters that show us innocence because they do absolutely nothing wrong.
Scout, one of the main characters in the book is accused of insulting Walter Cunningham at the dinner table without herself even knowing. Innocence was used when Scout insults Walter, when Walter pours syrup on his dinner, Scout didn’t know how Walter grew up or where Walter was from. Scout stated, “he would probably pour it into his milk glass had I not asked what the sam hill was she doing” (Lee 32). Scout had asked why Walter poured syrup on his dinner because it wasn’t something she had done or seen before. Scout is too young to understand the social graces of southern hospitality that make people feel at home not matter what their different habits are. This is how innocence was used in Chapter 3 of To Kill a Mockingbird.
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Scout was raised a different way than other children in the 1930’s. She doesn’t think defending an African American man was terrible when Atticus takes on the job of defending an African American. Scout sees nothing wrong with defending Negros, as Scout states “Don’t all Lawyers defend Negros’ (Lee 100). Scout thinks all Lawyers defend Negros, in her mind there is nothing wrong and she wasn’t raised to disrespect or treat Negros a certain way. Scout wasn’t raised with prejudice and injustice so she sees nothing wrong. That is the second example of innocence in To Kill a