Examples Of Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Allison Dossman

Honors English I 3rd

Mrs. Ward

10 April 2023

To Kill a Mockingbird: Loss of Innocence Childhood is meant to be like a warm and safe bubble meant to protect oblivious children from the difficulties of reality. To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a classic novel that shows the life of Scout Finch, Jem, her brother, and Dill, a friend, through a portion of their childhood. The portrayal of three children’s lives reveals how the loss of innocence in their childhood was inevitable as it began fading away in the beginning of their childhood and was completely diminished within a few years.

Early on, Scout, Jem, and Dill were investigating an old story about a man named Boo, also known as Arthur Radley, and snuck up

While this may not seem like a loss of innocence at first, Scout is being told that the way she grew up acting was completely incorrect and changes her outlook on her life. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born. . .” (Lee 93). Scout was used to acting as she pleased, but when Alexandra came, she completely flipped the house dynamic and put pressure on Scout to act differently. Because of this, Scout’s ignorance to the stereotypical gender roles is broken when she is told to conform to what is

Ewell’s rage. Ewell created a second near death experience, but this interaction was more impactful since the children were actually injured. “We were nearly to the road when I felt Jem’s hand leave me, felt him jerk backwards to the ground. More scuffling, and there came a dull crunching sound and Jem screamed,” (Lee 301). In the quote, Mr. Ewell was attempting to kill Scout and Jem to get back at Atticus for making a fool of him in the trial. Scout and Jem are about to escape, but Jem’s arm is broken as he gets pulled back by Bob Ewell. Jem was fearing for his little sister’s life along with his own safety when he was incapacitated and knocked out, and Scout, not knowing where Jem was, felt terrified and later believed Jem might have died. Their innocence had slowly been degraded away with other events, but this was Scout and Jem’s final breaking point where all the safety and warmth from childhood was completely