Who Is The Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

680 Words2 Pages

Lee uses the symbol of the mockingbird to represent someone who has their innocence unfairly ripped away from them because they come into contact with evil. Tom Robinson is a man of good character with a wife and children until he is found guilty of raping Mayella Ewell. He used to help Mayella with chores and even said that he “felt sorry for her” (264). Scout remarks that Mayella “must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley” (256). It is because of her loneliness that she decides to seek affection from Tom, and this affection is the confrontation with evil that leads to Tom’s loss of innocence and eventually the loss of his life. Although Tom is innocent of the charges against him for raping Mayella, …show more content…

After Tom is found guilty, he is moved to a prison outside of town. In prison he tries to escape, but he is killed before he can make it over the prison wall. Tom was shot seventeen times and Mr. Underwood “likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters or children” (323). Tom Robinson is the epitome of a mockingbird because he does no foul but is killed. He never touches Mayella; he helps her with chores around the house and even empathizes with her. But, because he comes into contact with the evilness of the Ewells he has his innocence and his life taken away from him for something he did not do. Dill Harris is considered a mockingbird because his loss of innocence is highlighted throughout the novel as a result of him witnessing the evils than men do to each other. When Dill’s character is first introduced he is a young boy and because he is a child he is inherently innocent. Later in the book, Dill’s innocence is captured when he begins crying during Mr. Gilmer’s cross-examination of Tom Robinson. Scout and Dill are forced to leave the courthouse because Dill cannot bear seeing Tom attacked any longer. While they are outside they meet Mr. Dolphus Raymond. Mr. Raymond points out that Dill isn’t

Open Document