Examples Of Innocent In To Kill A Mockingbird

What qualities distinguish someone as innocent as opposed to someone who is impure or guilty? How do acts of crime, prejudice, or injustice affect this definition? What does it actually mean to be innocent? Harper Lee answers these topics in her award winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. In Lee’s novel, a young family in the heart of Maycomb Alabama is challenged with the brunt of racist and prejudiced ideas against African Americans. This family, known as the Finches, is an upstanding household that does their best to subtly spread ideas of equality and respect to the other citizens of their town. The story follows a young girl named Scout, who grows up with her brother Gem, experiencing many lessons and bold events leading up to the trial

Boo is a social recluse who is often misunderstood as a monster after having a violent incident at a young age. In reality, Scout gets to see a brighter, more pure side to Boo, after he secretly gives her gifts. After a climactic ending in the courtroom, the antagonist Bob Ewell acts on his revenge on Atticus by going after his children when a mysterious figure saves them, “Mr. Tate found his neck and rubbed it. ‘Bob Ewell’s lyin’ on the ground under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He’s dead, Mr. Finch’” (Lee 289). Scout always describes her relationship with Boo as a very positive one, where Boo acts like a silent friend, giving her help in kind, genuine ways. Boo is an embodiment of innocence, even being named the symbol of a mockingbird by Scout, referring to someone who is selfless and puts the needs of other people in front of theirs. After Boo leaves his house for the first time in years, the only place where he feels comfortable, then kills another man, for right or wrong, his life will ultimately never be the same. Lee is showing how Bob Ewell's prejudiced nature, often going against people who are defenseless like the Finch children, ruined Boo’s innocence. Boo is put in an unfortunate position where he could defend his only friends or harm someone to keep them safe. Boo

Scout, like her father Atticus, is an avid reader, and because of this, she honed her reading and writing skills at a swift rate. At this point in the book, Scout has never experienced any major discrimination, and that changes after she gets targeted by Miss Caroline because of her superb reading skills. After being scolded by Miss Caroline, Scout thinks to herself, “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing” (Lee 16). Scout gets targeted by Mrs. Caroline because she goes against her traditional ways of teaching and isn't able to adapt to the student's characteristics. This connects to the recurring theme of prejudice, as Scout is the minority in this situation, being the only one who can read well, and she is targeted for something that is not bad. This defines Scout by portraying how she can accurately understand the discrimination and its effects on her feelings. Furthermore, she has the sudden mental development that if you have fear of losing something, that something is more important now. This is yet another example of Scout as a character growing and learning from her lessons. Even though Scout’s discrimination can feel childish and insignificant, they link the broader theme of prejudice ideas ruining innocent values in a child’s world to that of a more serious situation like racial