The loss of innocence In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee, the children scout and Jem lose a lot of their innocence and truly mature after exposure to the harsh realities of their world. Many substantial moments in their life’s greatly attributed to this growing maturity and understanding of the world. The children have very basic views of the world at the beginning of the novel, thinking only in a way that their innocence permits them to, but by the end of the story they start to realize the injustices that consistently show in the world around them. The trial of Tom Robinson was a big part of the children’s loss of innocence. In the beginning, Scout sees the world in a simple way. This way, good was rewarded and bad was punished. The Tom Robinson trial changed this thought process for her though, it changed how she understood the world because despite …show more content…
Atticus also thinks that the man is innocent and that justice will succeed because of the defense his dad presented. Jem realizes the moral failures of the adult world after Mr. Robinson is found guilty despite irrefutable evidence that shows him as innocent. Boo Radley is initially perceived as an individual who is very reclusive and this caused the kids to buy into local myths of him being someone who is frightening. Scout begins to realize as the story progresses that Boo is a compassionate person but also misunderstood. This progression of understanding by Scout comes to a head when Boo saves the children from the attack of Bob Ewell which shows Scout that Boo is a compassionate protector and not a monster. Jem also started with this fear of Boo, but Jem begins to realize that Boo is truly a kind person. This comes to light for Jem through the gifts that Boo leaves them and the mending of Jem's pants. The physical attack of Bob Ewell on the children Jem and Scout showed the evil in the world around