Examples Of Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Everyone, at some point in their life, loses their innocence. Childhood experiences that lead to a loss of innocence give way to the adults they become. Children, like Scout Finch in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, try to hold onto their naivety. But growing up surrounded by prejudice creates likeminded adults. Growing up in Maycomb, Scout is surrounded by prejudice. She desperately tries to hold on to her naive sense of justice, but do to the shocking events of a trial this becomes impossible to do. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout loses her innocence from the verdict of Tom Robinson’s trial.
Scout discovers that the people of Maycomb are racist. Until Atticus represents Tom Robinson, Scout has always seen Maycomb as an accepting town. It is only after Scout reads BB Underwood’s article about the unfairness of Tom’s trial that she realizes how Tom was convicted for the wrong reasons. Scout makes the connection between racism and Tom’s trial, “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (Lee 244). Scout now understands that Tom’s trial was not fair since the men on the jury believed Tom was guilty because of the color of his skin. Scout is exposed to more racism when she starts her next school year. After school, Scout
By seeing the racism that is displayed in her town, Scout’s childhood naivety is damaged. Also, her innocence is harmed when she learns that the adults she admires can have small minded, uninformed opinions about African American people. Finally, Atticus’ failure to successfully defend Tom Robinson, adds to her loss of innocence. The realizations that Scout makes during her childhood leads to her deprivation of innocence. Once lost, Scout’s innocence is unsalvageable, just like