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Tom Robinson's Innocence

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“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 119). In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch and his children Scout and Jem live in the prejudice town of Maycomb, Alabama. In the town they have many misconceptions of things such as Boo Radley, who has not been seen out of his house for fifteen years ever since he was caught causing a disturbance but the children soon figure out what really occurred after he got into trouble. As the story progresses Atticus accepts the request to defend a colored man named Tom Robinson which affects his family in multiple ways. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee uses characterization to show how in the process of growing up children …show more content…

The verdict of Tom Robinson’s case made young Jem despondent because he was so sure that the jury would have some some discretion and his father would win the case and felt "it ain't right" when they were told he was guilty (284). Jem couldn't wrap his head around about the idea of how the zealot jury's judgement is still clouded by the social norms of society even though there was evidence to prove Tom Robinson’s innocence. As he talks about the verdict of the case with Ms. Maudie he shares how his view of people changed. He "always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that's what they seemed like" (288). Jem's view of his great infallible town was crushed because of the case. He is coming to the age of understanding the dark side of society.
In Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird she uses characters as examples to display the growth of maturity where innocence is lost as well. The characters in the novel demonstrate the lessons they begin to learn as their maturity level grows and changes their perspective of the world. In the book it shows that at a young age children don't completely understand the issues that they're dealing with and when they do their reality changes. Therefore when characters go through many issues they lose their innocence but still can manage to have

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170 Words | 1 Pages

To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Mockingbirds do not cause harm or trouble; in fact their only purpose is to convince others with beautiful music. Tom Robinson’s death can easily be compared to that of a mockingbird; it did no good but also prevented no evil. Mr. Underwood chooses to write an article that basically every citizen of Maycomb can understand, and this proves to the reader the obvious connection between Tom Robinson and the symbol of a mockingbird. Mr. Underwood chooses to ignore the prominent racial barrier that separated Tom Robinson from justice, and chooses to focus on his disability instead.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

(Need a hook). The author uses of view of a child, Scout Finch, along with two other children, Jem Finch and Dill, to show the innocence of children is taken away from the coming of age. She uses a trial against a black man raping a white girl to show how children are innocent. Harper Lee uses life lessons to show that Scouts coming of age. Scout says, “Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in” (Lee 129).

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834 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, To Kill a MockingBird, Harper Lee illustrates the harsh treatment receive from the townspeople’s when he is order to defend Tom Robinson. When talking to his brother, Jack, Atticus explains that he hopes that his children will not catch Maycomb’s usual disease of racism and prejudice, he hopes his children will come to him. “I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers, instead of listening to the town.” When Scout asked Atticus if he was really a n***** lover, Atticus responded “I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody...

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1240 Words | 5 Pages

Maturing is something everyone goes through in life whether you go through it early or a little later in life. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows a lot about maturing. Growing up in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama where life was a lot more different from today, you mature much different and in different ways. Jem is one person who matures through the whole story and makes realizations about people around him, including his dad, Tom Robinson, and Mrs. Dubose. Jem goes into the story thinking his dad is just some old man but as he gets older, he realizes there is more to his dad.

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1045 Words | 5 Pages

When one grows up, it is inevitable they will lose their innocence. Seeing the world through rose colored glasses can only take one so far, and eventually they will have to open their eyes to real issues in their lives. While this happens at different ages for everyone, Atticus in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee believes that his kids should not be sheltered from the real world. As Scout and Jem, Atticus’ children, grow up, especially in a time where Maycomb is so segregated, Atticus teaches his kids real life lessons and to not become like the rest of their town; racist and judgemental. This comes with a cost, however, as the kids “grow up” at an expedited rate.

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1511 Words | 7 Pages

While Scout is less knowledgeable of the trial, she sees Jem and how “... his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each ‘guilty’ was a separate stab between them,”(282). Jem is watching his father go against the beliefs of the majority of Maycomb, while trying to prove an innocent man free of his accused actions. Jem puts himself in Tom’s situation, fully able to comprehend the importance of the case. He takes the pain Tom Robinson must be experiencing into himself, knowing how this verdict is changing someone’s life forever. Jem’s mature knowledge and awareness makes him a compassionate person, which is what Atticus had always aspired for his son to be.

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900 Words | 4 Pages

Another example is when Adam and Brett are breaking into abandoned cars, looking for equipment for survival while thinking about his maturity compared to other kids. " Actually, I'd always felt older than everybody who was my age and quite a few grown ups. Throughout this whole situation I’d been entrusted with information that made me feel older, weighed me down.” (Walters 265). This example shows the loss of innocence of how he doesn’t feel the same sense of innocence and immaturity that most teenagers experience at his age.

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949 Words | 4 Pages

“I want you to understand that courage isn’t a man with a gun in his hand,” (Lee 112). This is a quote spoken from a courageous man who put himself in other people’s positions and did not believe he was superior to African Americans like many in that time period. Atticus Finch is a lawyer, and also the father of Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The finches live in a small town called Maycomb during 1933, also known as the Great Depression era. Throughout the book, the town faces many racial discrimination issues, especially when an African American man named Tom Robinson is falsely accused of rape of a white female.

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883 Words | 4 Pages

“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it 's a sin to kill a mockingbird." The essence of the mockingbird lesson is that you should not act offensively towards people that have never done any little thing to harm you. Atticus himself can be considered as a mockingbird because he sees the best from a person and a hope for human

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird Themes “‘You never really understand a person until you consider his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (Lee 39). This quote from the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee includes many characters who suffer from the Great Depression and other conflicts that break out in the town of Maycomb. Racism, poverty, and domestic violence attend in the book and continue their way through to create rising conflict between the people of Maycomb county. Atticus Finch is a lawyer of Maycomb and a father of two children, Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, and Jem Finch.

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1976 Words | 8 Pages

The coexistence of good and evil is found deeply embedded in every great story. Complex themes are born from this relationship and many can be found scattered in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel takes place in the 1930s and it revolves around the Finch siblings, Jem and Scout, as they grow up in the south and start to discover the truth about their society with their father, Atticus Finch, who is a talented lawyer, and the people of Maycomb County. During this era of hate, Atticus is charged with the task of defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of rape. As Jem and Scout start to grow up and realize the racism of their community, people like Miss Maudie, Dill, and many others that reside in Maycomb County, encounters many events that start to shape the siblings for better or worse.

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715 Words | 3 Pages

"Like something ' asleep wrapped up in a warm place. I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that 's what they seemed like." this evidence shows that Jem before the trial saw everyone is good but after all the persecution his family got during the Tom Robinson trial he is forced to look at the people of Maycomb as what they truly are and not all of them are good like he thought. Although Jem does not physically die the child inside of him does.

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989 Words | 4 Pages

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel written from a child’s perspective over a couple of years. Atticus, her father, is a calm and morally courageous lawyer. When raising his children, both son and daughter, he tries to show them goodness in everything and especially to try to understand a person by seeing things from his or her perspective, “try to stand in the person’s shoes” to actually understand them. To see from the person’s perspective, you might understand their conscience, and that is, as he explains, individual. He teaches them what’s right and good, and when they get guns to shoot with he tells Jem that he can shoot as many bluejays he wants, but to remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

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1443 Words | 6 Pages

Percival symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, He cries and plays a lot, recites his address and full name by heart, and had “not been very attractive even to his mother”(Golding 43), showing how fragile and innocent he was at the beginning of the story. By the end, he was on the brink of killing Ralph and has completely forgot his address and name. At the end of the book, even Ralph “wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man 's heart”(Golding 158). While in while in Lord of the Flies the loss of innocence is seen as natural and will

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715 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, there are three specific examples that support the idea that maturation and the loss of innocence are inevitable. They include: Allie’s baseball mitt, the ducks in the Central Park pond, and Holden’s red hunting cap. Allie’s baseball mitt is a symbol of a child’s innocence, and then how it is lost. This is evident through the very basis of why Holden had started talking about Allie to the reader: Allie’s mitt.

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