To Kill A Mockingbird Loss Of Innocence Analysis

“Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.” James Arthur Baldwin. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee begins when Scout and Jem are immensely young and impressionable, it later chronicles the growing period of the two siblings. The innocence that pervades over Scout and Jem’s childhood is slowly, and yet abruptly, ended over the years.

When Scout and Jem are young they spend summers playing, whereas when they, Jem specifically, are older only want to be alone. The siblings go from young and constantly valuing each other's company to not even wanting to be in the same room. When children mature, they begin to appreciate being alone rather than being with other people. This is seen in the example that right before the trial, Scout wants to spend all her time with Jem and Dill, whereas Jem only wants to be in his room and read football magazines. The simplicity of this act shows Jem growing up, and ending his age of innocence. In chapter 26 of To Kill a Mockingbird, it states, “The Radley Place had ceased to terrify me…” It’s this simple realization from Scout, who had once been so fascinated and so innately terrified of “The Radley Place” that while growing up she

When Scout begins to somewhat understand why the trial is taking place, and more importantly Atticus is involved in it, it shifts her view on the subject. She had previously idolized Atticus’ ideals and would have, both figuratively and literally, gone to war for Atticus; however, when she finds out that he, more or less, had to take the case she does, probably the most teenage thing in the entirety of the book, not idolize him instead she blames him. This transition shows just how much she grew up just in the year leading up to the