Similarities Between To Kill A Mockingbird And Nothing Gold Can Stay

In life, innocence is associated with purity and the lack of corruption, and the loss thereof is inevitable. Chapter fifteen of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, illustrate how innocence is impermanent. Both Lee and Frost, portray the impermanent nature of innocence and how it is slowly replaced by wisdom from experiences as one ages. In Chapter 15 of the novel, Jem’s innocence is slowly replaced with an understanding of the social corruption and inequality that exists in Maycomb. For instance, after Atticus’s first encounter with Heck Tate and his men, Jem admits that he is “Scared about Atticus” and how “Somebody might hurt him.” Jem’s adamant interest in Atticus’s affairs implies that he is beginning to replace his innocence with an understanding of the racial stereotypes surrounding Tom Robinson, and how his Atticus’s decision to defend Robinson in court puts himself in a position of political and physical danger, as social norms prohibit such.

In the poem, Frost characterizes innocence as short-lived and non-lasting. Frost writes, “Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold” and “Nothing gold can stay.” Gold, which symbolizes innocence, is portrayed as the “hardest hue to hold” since it is only a matter of time and the cycling of life before it fades away. Moreover, the line “Nothing gold can stay,” is a clear statement of the fact that innocence cannot last forever. Lee and Frost use Jem and Nature respectively to symbolize the fact that innocence is impermanent, and that it is inevitable with time that one’s innocence will eventually fade away and be replaced with understanding and