Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Savannah Smith

Mrs Rollins

Honours English 9

09 March 2023

The Loss of Innocence in To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s historical fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird follows a young girl by the name of Scout Finch as she navigates childhood alongside her older adolescent brother, Jem. The story takes place in a small town in southern Alabama called Maycomb during the Great Depression. Atticus, a lawyer and the children's father, is created by Lee to be both a role model and a teacher. Atticus highlights the importance of understanding a person by “stand[ing] in his shoes and walk[ing] around in them”(321) whilst encouraging level-headedness. As the book progresses, Mrs Dubose, an old lady with a loud mouth and bold opinions, is introduced.

The white camellia flower is associated with a Ku Klux Klan-like organization, founded in 1867, called Knights of the White Camellia. The camellia is the state flower of Alabama to enforce white supremacy in the post-Civil War South. Lee fashions Mrs Dubose as a “vicious”(115) woman who Scout and Jem both hate. Her comments about Atticus anger Jem, and when Atticus’s only response is to “‘just hold your head high and be a gentleman’” Jem is “furious”(115). Mrs Dubose's blatant racism is important alongside the white camellias to provide reasoning for Jem’s disturbance. When Jem cuts the heads of the camellias in response to Mrs Dubose, Lee correlates the act with the killing of racism. Subsequently, Mrs Dubose taunts Jem, saying he didn’t kill the flowers and they are “growing back”(126). She continues by telling him to “next time…do it right” by “pull[ing] it up by the roots”(126). The flowers growing back symbolize racism returning despite the brutality. Pulling up the flowers by the roots ensures they won’t grow back. Lee lingers on Jem’s visual emotions, describing his face as “devoid of resentment”(126) as he holds his head high, listening to Atticus’s advice. By accentuating Jem’s reaction, Lee shows how he has matured from when he met Mrs Dubose. The symbol of the white camellia is one way Harper Lee invokes the loss of innocence in

Lee paints Mrs Dubose as a “horrible”(122) old woman who is inescapable. The siblings are subjected to her “ruthless interrogation”(114) every day whilst they walk towards the town center. Lee entwines the punishment for destroying Mrs Dubose’s white camellias and the blooming acquaintanceship between her and Jem. The punishment is that Jem has to read to Mrs Dubose every night for a month. In their first session, Lee describes Mrs Dubose as a “nasty” woman who has “fits” and “spits a lot”(123). Atticus simply states that sick people “don’t look nice sometimes”(123) when the siblings tell him. It is only when Mrs Dubose dies does Lee elaborate on the sickness. Atticus explains that Mrs Dubose was breaking an addiction and that was the cause of her vulgar speech. Lee details Jem’s antagonistic emotions of lingering anger and guilty understanding of her outbursts. This mental conflict demonstrates how Jem has learned to “consider things from [another person’s] point of view”(33), which is important to Lee’s motif, loss of