Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a girl named Scout Finch and her brother Jem Finch live in a small county in Alabama called Maycomb. In the beginning of the book Scout and Jem make friends with Dill, a boy they met in the summer. They become interested in their secretive neighbor Boo Radley, and decide to play games about him. Later, Scout and Jem realizes that someone has been leaving them gifts in a tree. Meanwhile Atticus, their father is defending an African American man Tom Robinson, who is being accused of raping a white woman. During these events, In the beginning, the reader sees Scout and Jem’s childhood perspective on how everyone and everything is kind and loving. But as they grow older they lose their innocence after meeting

In the beginning of the book, they believe that everyone who lives in Maycomb is very kind and loving. While Atticus is sitting in front of the jail reading, a lynch mob tries to get into the jail to hurt Tom Robinson, and even Atticus. Without Scout even know what’s going on, she sees Mr. Cunningham, her friend Walter Cunningham’s father in the crowd. She innocently talks to him about Walter Cunningham. After Mr. Cunningham realizes how innocent Scout is, he and the rest of the men leave, “Don’t you remember me, Mr. Cunningham ? I’m Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one time, remember?” I began to sense the futility one feels when acknowledged by a chance of acquaintance” (56). This shows how innocent Scout is because she doesn’t realize that Mr. Cunningham and the rest of the men were going to hurt Tom Robinson and Atticus. After everyone finds out that Atticus is defending an African American, they all turn against him and his children. Sometime later their neighbor Mrs. Dubose, a racist old lady with a morphine addiction talks bad about Atticus defending Tom Robinson, “Your father’s no better then the nigger and trash he works for!” (116). This shows how Scout and Jem realize that the world is full of segregation and racism and how racist the town of Maycomb really