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To Kill A Mockingbird Innocence Theme

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In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays the story through the eyes of a young girl named Scout. This novel takes place in the 1930’s during the Great Depression in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout and her brother Jem are growing up, enduring the hardships of the Tom Robinson trial and uncovering the mysteries of Boo Radley. Harper Lee incorporates the themes of love and innocence into the book, expressing it through the use of character interaction. First and foremost, two characters that greatly display the theme of love and innocence are Scout and Dill. Dill, or Charles Baker Harris, is a boy that lives with his Aunt Rachel next door every summer. He ends up falling in love with our main character, Scout, and she …show more content…

Boo Radley is a huge component in the storyline, his importance leading to the large resolution at the end of the novel. Boo being held up in his house for many years, causing lack of maturity and growing up, has him manage to maintain his childlike innocence. Especially when he finally meets Scout and asks, “”Will you take me home?” He almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark” (Lee 319). His child voice and being afraid definitely show a form of innocence in Boo. He never had many experiences outside of the house, so he acts as if he was still the child he was before he stayed in that house for so long. Boo Radley is also considered a Mockingbird, the symbol of innocence in the book. Jem conveys the theme of love for his sister Scout when he takes his birthday money to buy her a twirling baton (even though his caring gift didn’t last long). “Jem thought he had enough to buy a miniature steam engine for himself and a twirling baton for me” (Lee 116). While he does end up snapping it in half during his rage towards Mrs. Dubose, it is clear that Jem had loving intentions towards Scout. The author most definitely used this theme to show their sibling relationship, and add to the intense moment in Jem’s destruction of Mrs. Dubose’s flowers. During the trial in the book, Jem was incredibly certain of his father’s win. Atticus (his father) was

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Not long after the trial of Tom Robinson, Jem has become very easily angered by the even mention of the case. So, in chapter 24 when Scout is confused by her hypocritical teacher, she speaks to her brother about it only to end up on the front end of his rage. She was shocked by his sudden mood swing, but she understood that he was upset and connected it with her mention of the case of Ewell v. Robinson. Scout proceeds to ask her father about Jem, as she is clearly distressed about the state of her brother, and Atticus eases her fret and explains what exactly Jem is going through. While Scout doesn't quite yet grasp the idea of looking at things from another's point of view, she certainly is unknowingly feeling her brother's

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In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” there are numerous coming-of-age events with Jem and Scout, who are brother and sister. Scout is a different type of girl, she wears clothes that make her look like a tomboy, has her hair cut short to her shoulders and is innocent and naive. Jem is a boy who is starting to spark an interest in things such as football and guns. Scout and Jem grow up in a time of racial discrimination and segregation in Maycomb, Alabama. Yet, have a father who shows them a disparate perspective of thinking.

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It was then revealed she was a Morphine addict, and Jem was there to help her get rid of her addiction (him reading to her, kept her mind off of Morphine). Atticus just wanted Jem to see what “real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.” (page number). Atticus didn’t want Jem to think that courage and power came from a gun or a weapon, and wanted him to see how courageous Mrs. Dubose was for trying to stop her addiction despite the fact that she was going to die

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Theme Essay Courage is never giving up, especially before you try. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the author shows courage in numerous ways. The characters learn that sometimes even though you know you might fail at something you still try to do your best. I agree with the theme courage is never giving up, especially before you try, and the characters of Mrs.Dubose and Mr. Underwood exemplify this theme.

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1336 Words | 6 Pages

Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, and Pulitzer Prize winner uses her book as a way to write about her own life growing up. Sometimes a sleepy town in Maycomb County has more to the story. Jem and Scout Finch learn this through Atticus’s acts of bravery and by losing their innocence through the Tom Robinson trial. Throughout the book Harper Lee uses many themes including courage, loss of innocence, and walking in someone else’s shoes.

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As soon as our childhood starts, we start to discover the dark secrets that the world is hiding. Discovering and learning these buried understandings shape people into who they are based off of how they find out. From cheating in a game to racism and prejudice, they are all disarming happenings that occur daily. In To Kill a Mockingbird, characters and events that take place throughout the story aid in the loss of innocence with Jem and Scout, and mold them into the people they become. The general lesson Jem and scout learn by the end of the book is that: the world is in no way perfect, but is actually quite distraught.

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619 Words | 3 Pages

The childhood world of Jem, Scout, and Dill and their relationship with Boo Radley in Part one of the book is they believed in the hoaxes about him. They thought he was some creepy dude. They played lots of games and did lots of stuff involving him and his house, like run over to it and touch it and run back. One time Jem goes over to the house to touch it then starts sprinting away, then gets his pants caught so he loses them. Then later in the book Jem goes over to the fence he lost them at and they were patched up and folded on the fence.

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Many people, including Scout, Jem, and Dill, are afraid of things Boo hasn’t done. Furthermore, Boo always stays home, which makes others think Boo’s father has been punishing him for his actions. Yet this isn’t true, as Jem states, “...when I was your age...(I thought) if there’s just one kind of folks, why can’t they get along with each other?... Scout… I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time... it’s

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Revenge can lead to both violence and death Conflict between people or groups of people often result in revenge. Revenge is an action of harming someone as a punishment in return for what they have done to themselves or others. Violence and death are usually the result of revenge. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird and the film, La Haine, revenge led to both violence and death.

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900 Words | 4 Pages

Boo Radley as a kid was locked up in his house all his life because of his strict father. So Scout and Jem thought of him as monster because they believed the rumors and stories that they heard. However, the rumors are put to rest when Boo’s character emerges. He is really very kind to to Jem and Scout.

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1076 Words | 5 Pages

For Jem and Scout, there innocence comes from not being exposed to the world yet because of their age, but Boo Radley has a different kind of innocence. He finds himself uncomfortable around the people and unsure of how to behave when brought to the Finch house. Boo can be sometimes childlike as well, hiding small treasures in the tree in his house for the children, or when he asks Scout to take him home. Scout links their arms in a way that makes it look like Boo decided to help her to his house, not the other way around. After being alone for so long, Boo appears hesitant about everything, and unsure how to

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429 Words | 2 Pages

He reads with Scout every night and teaches Jem to be respectful. But most of all, Atticus teaches his kids vital life lessons. He teaches them to respect others and be kind, how to react to people who openly criticise him when he takes the Tom Robinson case and most of all to be empathetic to others and not judge someone based on rumours or preconceived opinions. Boo Radley displays his affection for Scout and Jem though anonymous gifts he places in the knothole in of an Oaktree and towards the end of the story when he protects them from Bob Ewell. An example of love in the novel is in chapter 15, when a mob surrounds Atticus at the jailhouse, Jem’s refusal to leave his father’s side demonstrates his love and loyalty for Atticus and when the Finch family is going home, Atticus’s loving gesture towards Jem doesn’t go unnoticed by Scout.

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1350 Words | 6 Pages

Usually when children cry they are loud and immature about it while adults usually cry more quietly, which Jem did. Also, this shows a sensitive side to Jem because the tree gifts Boo left in the knothole was a sort of comfort for him and a way for Boo to communicate with others from the outside world. This makes him upsets since this comfort is gone and because Boo now is out of ways to communicate with anyone outside of his home. Another change in character occurs during the fire in Miss Maudie Atkinson’s home. While Jem and Scout stand far out of the fire’s reach, Jem’s mind blew up!

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905 Words | 4 Pages

They assign characteristics to Boo without any purpose but entertainment and peculiarness; they want to see Boo not as their neighbor, but as an ugly, twisted, mutant, with a taste for eating rodents and cats. Watching the injustice that Tom suffers from being a black man in a white world helps the children understand why Boo may choose to be a recluse. " Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay inside."

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1339 Words | 6 Pages

If not for the major characters, the minor characters have played an equally important role in Maycomb with their contrasting views. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is mainly about Jem and Scout growing up under the difficult situations created in Alabama during The Great Depression. Stereotypes and discrimination are major problems in Maycomb. Scout and Jem Finch are raised by Atticus, with the help of Calpurnia, their maid. In the first part of the book, Scout, Jem and Dill are fascinated by Boo Radley because of the rumors they hear about him, and they try everything to make him come out of his house.

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