Examples Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Sydney Perez Lopez

Professor Golden

English 1302 MW

March 3, 2016

The Destruction of Innocence Innocence evidently comes with birth and is kept through existence as time moves forward, but it soon becomes corrupted with specific life changing occurrences. In the film To Kill a Mockingbird directed by Robert Mulligan, which is based upon the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee, there are three prominent characters in which innocence is rendered within. The three characters are Jem Finch, his sister Scout or Jean Louise Finch, and their neighbor Boo Radley or Arthur Radley. They each possess a different form of innocence because of the diverse personalities and consequently have their innocence obliterated in distinct ways. The

His innocence protruded from his small outbursts of childlike behavior. He wanted his father to play football for the Mets so he could watch his father play like all the other boys fathers played with their sons. Jem was not an unusual boy in the fact that he was innocent enough to yearn for a firearm. His father, along with other boys Jem’s age, owned a gun and even boys younger than him, like Walter Cunningham, had one as well. The destruction of Jem’s innocence was simple and strait forward. His innocence was corrupted when he witnessed his father, Atticus, shoot a mad dog in the street. A dog has the connotation of being a great companion as well as the epitome of innocence for its warm hearted nature. The dog’s demise displayed in front of Jem destroyed all of the want for a firearm, because he now could see exactly what could come of one shot, of one piece of ammo. Mulligan truly captured the loss of that innocence in the way he made a tight shot of the camera on Jem depicting state of shock. Crowther, a writer for The New York Times, transcribed, “there is so much feeling for children in the film...” which only supports the characters abilities to come across as innocent and

Scouts innocence is broken in small pieces, three, for she is innocent in many different ways. The first presented piece of innocence is corrupted when there is a mob formed around her father as he tries to protect the colored man being prosecuted. Scout’s face tells the story as she realizes the problem formed before her very eyes and defuses the situation by greeting Mr. Cunningham. The second piece is corrupted when she is present at the trial of Tom Robinson, the prosecuted colored man, and he is found guilty of the alleged assault against Mayella Ewell. The third and final corruption of innocence is presented at her own assault, as well as her brother Jem’s, at the hands of Bob Ewell. The altercation ended in a murder that was witnessed by Scout and unquestionably destroyed the last bit of her innocence. Crowther wrote, “so much delightful observation of their spirit, energy and charm,” which enforces the subject of childlike