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Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

659 Words3 Pages

Intro
The loss of ones innocence is a double edged sword. One could be developing into a mature and respected member of society, while losing something very rare in a grown-up society, that you can never get back. One could be tempted by the idea of being better than fellow children because of a older age, or simply an innocent person could be touched by evil and become lost. Either way is comparable to killing an innocent songbird. To Kill(ing) A Mockingbird.
In this book we follow Scout and Jem through a few of their childhood years, and along the way we witness their small town life, a court case that rocks the town and its ideals, and many instances of lost innocence. Which is the theme that Harper Lee develops: Loss of innocence is a horrible beast, which can rear its head because of many factors, …show more content…

This sets up an underlying message for the rest of the book, that killing innocents or innocence is a sin.
“Don’t say anything about it, Scout[…]What? I certainly am. Ain’t everybody’s daddy the deadest shot in Maycomb[…] I reckon if he’d wanted us to know, he’da told us. If he was proud of its, he’da told us.[…] its something you wouldn’t understand[…] I wouldn’t care if he couldn’t do a blessed thing.”(Lee 102)
More of Jem showing a more mature side. Jem understands Atticus’ thinking and acts upon it to make sure Scout doesn’t mess it up. This is the start of Jem and Scout not only having differing views, but also clashing views. Scout wants to shout it to the world, but Jem wants to respect Atticus’ wishes and keep it on the down low.
Nothing large has happened to make the beast of lost innocence rear its ugly head yet, but we see that just from growing up on his own, the beast begins to peek his head out. Jem changes as he grows

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