Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Imagine a story in which a character starts out blinded to the reality of his/her surroundings, he/she goes through a life-changing event, then he/she ends up realizing the truth about the reality. Lee appoints this baseline structure in her Bildungsroman To Kill a Mockingbird to pave the story of Scout, a second grader, whose father is appointed to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who is wrongly prejudiced of committing a heinous crime. Scout has a playful beginning, when she aims to make her neighbor Boo show himself, but later, while and after witnessing the aforementioned man's trial, Scout learns the truth about the social motives of the world, both written and unwritten. While doing so, Scout matures, but at a major cost. To emphasize

In the beginning of the novel, Scout, Jem, and their partner Dill are thoroughly interested in attempting to "make [Boo] come out" (14) in order to reveal what Boo looks like. Their involvement in this motive is so deep, Atticus believes that they should "stop tormenting [Boo]" (54) and find something else to do instead. Lee employs this childhood example because it builds Scout and Jem's innocence as youth as a prominent feature. Eventually, after Scout's experience seeing Atticus and the group of men at the jail, Jem takes on the responsibility of making sure Scout "[tries] to go to sleep" (177) and certifying that she is alright. Lee incorporates this detail as a turning point in Jem's maturing process; his willingness to take on more responsibilities is in stark contrast to his playful beginnings. Also, in chapter 22, when Aunt Alexandra asks about Jem's total shock at the trial's result that Tom was guilty, Atticus says that he has "made it this way for [Jem]" (243), indicating that he supports Jem's right to see the trial events. This justifies that Atticus encourages Jem to taking on the harsh truth about the world and his responsibilities, showing that from Atticus's point of view, Jem has lost his childhood innocence. Finally, Scout's remark in chapter 26 that "when [Jem is] able to think about it, [he] would be himself again" (283) stabilizes that Jem has changed completely. The buildup of these

Gilmer's interrogation of Tom Robinson. Near the end of the cross-examination, Mr. Gilmer asks if Tom is being "impudent" (225) to him while calling Tom "boy" (225), after which Tom responds that he is not. The condescending diction that Mr. Gilmer uses shows that he considers himself superior to Tom, and in addition to him saying that Tom is "scared [of having] to face up to what [he] did" (225), that shows Mr. Gilmer is judging Tom and assessing him as guilty already. Even though there is not enough evidence to determine Tom as innocent, Lee's summation of the testimonies portrays Tom as innocent, yet Mr. Gilmer's assuming accusations cause Tom's apparent innocent aura to shatter. Another case using diction is Scout's experience on Boo's porch. Scout claims that "just standing on the Radley porch [is] enough" (321) to empathize with Boo. Lee profiles the brief diction shown through "just" and "enough" in order to show the impact of the short, yet life-changing, event on Scout's personality. This time, the character loses her innocence through maturity rather than judgment unlike the last