Examples Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a young girl by the name of Jean Finch and her brother Jeremy Finch go through events that teach them multiple different life lessons like changing their perspectives to other peoples before judging them. This ties in the meaning of the mockingbird which represents innocence because it causes no harm to anyone; to judge or to harm it proves that one does not understand its perspective. In the novel, Harper Lee brings up many times where the representation of a mockingbird appears. There is one direct time when their father, Atticus, asks the kids not to shoot any mockingbirds and Ms. Maudie tells Scout “Your father’s right. Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens; they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a
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Tom is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the daughter of Bob Ewell. Before the trial, people were certain that the Ewell’s would win the case but as Atticus brings up many valid points such as Tom does not have a left hand and the slap print is on the left side of the face. The jury question if Tom is guilty or not. When Tom was defending himself he told Atticus, “‘Mr. Finch, if you was a nigger like me, you’d be scared, too.’” This quote shows that society looked down on African American people because Tom could have said if you were me you would be scared but he didn’t. He said he was scared as a n*gger indicating if he was a white male in the situation he would have remained. This relates back to the innocence of a mockingbird because it shows that although he is innocent he is still said to be guilty by the jury. Showing that the jury did not care for his innocence instead they looked at his skin color and made the wrong judgment because the jury did not change their view of the