Literary Analysis Essay On To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird Literary Essay Innocence is one of the most commonly destroyed traits in human beings. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a well known novel about a young girl named Scout, and her adventures with her brother and best friend, in the town of Maycomb. The book shows the heavy racism that was common during this time, and how abolitionists, like Scout’s family, struggled against the discrimination of them and other races. The mockingbird in the title is a representation of multiple characters, Harper Lee uses tone, setting, and symbolism throughout the book to describe the innocence that all humans display throughout life. In To Kill A Mockingbird, innocence is seen many times in Scout with the tone that she states information to others. This is seen in Scout when her blunt explanation of Walter Cunningham and his family’s financial situation, gets her in trouble with Miss Caroline. “Walter’s one of the Cunninghams, Miss Caroline….That’s okay, ma’am, you’ll get to know all the county folks after a while. The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t pay back.”(Lee 20). Scout doesn’t try to offend or …show more content…

Boo Radley, being confined in his home, Scout, not understanding the simplistic ideals of the town, Jem, growing apart from his sister and his childhood, Tom Robinson being accused of rape when he committed no crime, and Mayella Ewell, being forced to lie about a rape that didn't take, are all examples of how innocence, or the loss of it, can change someone dramatically. Lee displays each character in sympathy creating readers connections with each character no matter the faults that they have committed. Innocence is one of the most commonly destroyed things in human beings, but just because it’s gone, doesn’t mean that it can never be seen

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