Theme Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

In order to mature into having an adult mindset, children go through hardships and experiences that alter their state of innocence. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, an ongoing theme among the youth of Maycomb is they encounter a complication or barrier that when overcome, permanently changes their frame of mind. Lee demonstrates this through the perspective of Scout, which also gives an insight to Jem and Dill's troubles. Chronologically, Lee develops this idea that in one specific moment a child’s entire perspective changes. Dill’s occurs during the trial’s cross examination when he begins crying. Lee has a way of associating children with fairness throughout the novel, especially in this point in time. This passage establishes

Let him get a little older and he won't get sick and cry. Maybe things'll strike him as being, not quite right, say, but he won't cry, not when he gets a few years on him’ ”

Jem grew from this and takes a more mature stance to adult conversations and even goes as far as teaching Scout not to squash bugs: “It was probably a part of the stage he was going through, and i wished he would hurry up and get through it. He was certainly never cruel to animals, but I had never known his charity to embrace the insect world”(320). As miniscule as Jem’s little naggings may seem, it really reflects how the trail changed him. Lastly, Scout is the one to really contemplate the past three years and her adolescence. She mentally matures at the end of the book, tying up her own loose ends, as she stands on the Radley porch and takes a pondering walk home. Lee finalizes Scout’s transition by showing her understanding of innocence and evil in the world:

“Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough”(374). In this moment Scout could see what Boo had seen all those years through the shutters of the window, and how easily he was misjudged. Harper Lee leaves Scout for the bittersweet end because she is the narrator, and if she resolves everything in the middle of the book like Jem and Dill there would be no dramatic closure. “As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn’t much else left for us to learn, except possibly Algebra”