Representation Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she tells the story of racial prejudice in the 1930s to explain facts and events consisting of how certain people and races were treated in the Deep South. Many of the characters represent innocence, though the innocence present gets eradicated. However, the transition in in Scout and Jem’s attitudes from before the Tom Robinson case and after from before the Tom Robinson case and after shows maturation in the children, even comprehension of the discrimination happening in their own town. Lee uses symbolism to prove that the representations of innocence such as the mockingbird, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley, leads to destruction because of the evil, hidden as words and gestures, and that innocence

regarding impertinence“‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’” (Lee 119). Atticus makes sure to tell the children not to shoot a mockingbird, where his double meaning consists of not killing anything that signifies innocence. Miss Maudie reinforces Atticus’s lesson by saying that mockingbirds do not hurt anyone or anything to cause deliberate murder, which allows the children understand the simple innocence. “As Miss Maudie Atkinson explains, it would be thoughtlessly cruel to kill innocent creatures that ‘don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.’”(“To Kill a Mockingbird” 294). Miss Maudie’s explanation could also apply to humans, substituted for the shooter: human beings wound others purposefully, whether or not they are innocent. When Atticus teaches the children the lesson of not killing the mockingbird, it mirrors the event of Tom Robinson’s conviction because his sentence means imprisoning an innocent man, much like killing an innocent

“‘Do you think they’re true, all those things they say about B—Mr. Arthur?’... ‘No, child,’ she said. ‘That is a sad house. I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy. He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what folks said he did.’” (Lee 51). Scout asks Miss Maudie about what she hears out on the streets of her town, the rumors about Boo behaving insane because of a miniscule event that happened years ago, which partly places the blame on Boo’s father for acting as a religious fanatic. Boo Radley believed his father’s actions signified insanity; however, Boo tried to show Jem and Scout that he would not act as his father did by giving them small gifts, and even saving the children. “Boo left the safe environment of his home to risk his life for hers, and she knows that his essential goodness and vulnerability need protecting” (Felty 299). Boo intervenes when Bob Ewell tries to hurt Scout and ends up killing Mr Ewell in the midst of the struggle—though the accomplishment of coming out of the confines of his safe house and acting hero goes to Boo Radley. Scout finally realizes that the rumors about Boo prove the inaccuracy of the town’s perceptions, the Tom Robinson case and the mockingbird lesson