Innocence in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educator who was acclaimed for her educational method that builds on the way children naturally learn, once said, “Children are human being to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future.” In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, the theme of innocence and especially a child’s innocence is a significant theme. Lee uses the theme to communicate to the reader the faults of society in the fictional community of Maycomb and the corrupted view of people of a different race. She also allows readers to sympathize with characters that are “innocent” in a sense and have been exposed to hatred and arbitrary treatment, for example the most prominent being Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, through the innocent outlook of Jem and Scout. The children have an innocent perspective that reveals what the adults don't see. Being able to connect and sympathize with a person who society looks down upon, revealing the wrong doings of being influenced by a prejudice, and exposing the mistreatment of people with a different skin colour are all important concepts that Harper Lee tried to convey through the perspectives of the children throughout the novel.

Without being completely conscious of the consequences of her act of courage, Scout was able to disband a mob attempting to lynch Tom Robinson through her childlike innocence. While standing amidst the crowd of men in front of the jailhouse Scout sparked a conversation with the only person who she could recognize: “’Entailments are bad,’ I was advising him, when I slowly awoke to the fact that I was addressing the entire aggregation. The men were looking at me; some had thei...

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...irds” and important deficiencies that society, not only in the book, but in reality as well has regarding the fair treatment of all. Through the perspectives of Jem, Scout, and Dill Lee is able to disclose important lessons that will help readers to become better people. Trough Jem she shows readers that even though someone may come off as strange or different, they are still human beings. Readers are able to interoperate from Scout’s interaction with the lynching mob that one should not blind themselves with prejudice of any kind, and Dill’s tears display that society as a whole must be willing to look past prejudice and treat everyone equally. Because of the untainted perspective of children, their narrative can express more than an adult’s can. Using a child’s point of view opened up a larger and more broad of the kind of world Harper Lee was trying to portray.