Literary Analysis Of To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird - Literary Analysis
One significant theme conveyed by Harper Lee throughout the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the destruction of innocence. This theme is conveyed throughout the novel with two main characters, Scout and Jem. Their childhood innocence began to fade as they grew older, finding out that not everyone is good even though they had never seen evil before. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley were both misjudged and had no intentions of hurting anyone, yet they both got hurt. The mockingbirds can be used to represent innocence, and several characters can be represented as mockingbirds that have been killed such as Jeremy “Jem” Atticus Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, Tom Robinson, Arthur “Boo” Radley, and Charles

Tom Robinson, a 25 year old black male, is accused of raping and beating Mayella Ewell, a 19 year old white female. Even though he was innocent, the town found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison. Atticus was defending him in his trial. Atticus found that Tom Robinson didn’t beat Mayella because bruises done on the right side of her face were inflicted by a left-handed person. Tom Robinson’s left arm was practically useless because his arm got caught in a cotton gin at the age of 12. Bob Ewell, Mayella Ewell’s father, was proved to be left-handed. Atticus had evidence that Tom was innocent and Bob wasn’t, but since a white man’s word was always higher than a black man’s voice in the 1930’s, they found Tom guilty. Tom was a mockingbird. He caused no harm and was ultimately killed, “Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee

Bob progressively starts to threaten everyone who embarrassed him in court, especially Atticus. “Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life” (Lee 290). Little did Atticus know, Bob would go after his children just to get him. Late at night when Jem took Scout home from her school play, Bob was following close behind them. He broke Jem’s arm and tried to strangle Scout when suddenly someone had come to rescue them. He tried to kill Jem and Scout in an attempt to get back at Atticus. Bob was stabbed and killed by the stranger who saved Jem and Scout. Not only did they have mental damage from the trial, now they also had physical damage. Jem was enraged at the townspeople for finding Tom Robinson guilty when they knew he was innocent. He couldn’t fathom how his father could work for a justice system who did no justice for Tom. Jem now realizes how much racism there is in Maycomb and his faith in the justice system is badly hurt. Scout doesn’t grasp the severity of the trial as much as Jem but they both know, although to different degrees, that life isn’t fair, justice isn’t always served, and people would lie just to save their own