Theme Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Innocence is a rare thing in a world full of guilty consciences. Set in the late 1930’s, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird accurately portrays the idea of small town life where racism ruled all, opinions spread like wildfire, and the innocent were suffering while the guilty were saved. It can be difficult to find people with honest intentions and a pure heart, which is why Tom Robinson, Mr. Raymond and Boo Radley are such significant characters in the understanding of purity within the novel. Tom Robinson was a black man convicted for a crime that he had been proven innocent for as a consequence of his ethnicity. Mr Dolphus Raymond, the town “drunk”, was branded an outcast for his choice to have a Negro as a partner. Boo (Arthur)

Dolphus Raymond this was especially tough. This man lived the life we wanted to live, loved who he wanted to love and did nothing to try and change this. He was constantly questioned by his neighbours, he was a white man with a Negro partner. Raymond enjoyed his life, he did nothing to disturb anyone around him. Although he was happy he felt the need to provide justification for his actions by acting drunk all of the time. Mr. Raymond had to ruin his reputation so that he could live a peaceful life without harassments, he suffered from social injustice from others when he was doing nothing wrong. This man had not done anything wrong to anyone but the citizens of Maycomb disapproved of his way of life and so he suffered. Mr. Raymond had a Negro partner and mixed children, he did not conform to the ways of the town, he was not racist and because of this he was exiled from society. He was considered a disgrace, and this mockingbird saved himself from the certain social death he would have faced had he not acted drunk to allow others justification for his

In To Kill a Mockingbird we learn about how these sorts of judgements can effect a person, how this type of prejudice can damage an innocent soul. It is a sin to kill a mockingbird, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy” (Lee, 103), their innocent. Boo Radley was unjustly defamed for the way of life he chose to live. Tom Robinson, a totally innocent man, was sentenced to death because of his skin colour. Mr. Raymond, a man essentially forced to ruin his own reputation to avoid cruel remarks from his neighbours. These three characters are all symbols of mockingbirds, they were innocent people who suffered from unjust discrimination. Innocence is rare, In To Kill a Mockingbird, rather than it being cherished and respected, it is destroyed. The innocents drown in society’s prejudice towards those who do not comply, and the deceitful raise