Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a grand staple in the world of literature. To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of a young white girl named Scout living in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The novel is broken up into two parts. In the first part of the novel, Scout narrates the childish and playful story of the scary boogie man. Boo Radley, who lives in the house down the street from them. Formally known as Author Radley, Boo Radley is a thirty-year-old man who is shunned from the outside world by his parents. At the age of fifteen, Boo was convicted of harming a police officer and stealing a car. Instead of legally punishing him, Boo’s extremist religious parents decided to lock him

Throughout the second part of the book the Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence and purity in the novel. Tom Robinson is a caring, generous man who is seen as impure and is represented in a negative light. Tom Robinson is actually much more like the mockingbird because he is killed for no other reason than his skin color and his senseless killing represents the loss of innocence. The first mention of the mockingbird is brought up in a conversation between Miss Maudie and Scout. The conversation is based on the topic of the old saying that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird since they are innocent and don’t do harm to anyone. Miss Maudie quotes, “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 anything but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” (Lee 119). We can infer from this quote that mockingbirds have a well-respected reputation because they are innocent, which is a purposeful metaphor for Tom. Furthermore, Atticus quotes, “Shoot all the bluejays you want, but it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” (Lee 119). This quote shows that people kill and hunt animals for enjoyment. The bluejays are seen as sinful and the mockingbirds are seen as pure and innocent. This is in comparison to how society sees Tom Robinson as a bluejay. They see him as sinful and a slab of meat that they can hunt for their enjoyment as they do with bluejays. After the trial succeeds and Tom is found with a guilty verdict, he has been taken to a jail 60 miles away from Maycomb and is waiting to be acquitted for state trial. During his stay, the cops tell Atticus that during recess Tom Robinson ran and tried to hop the fence in order to escape. We know this claim is simply not true because Tom’s left hand is cripple and he is handicapped; so attempting to escape would be out of his best