Summary Of To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, tells the story of a small town named Macomb, and the people in this town are going through very controversial times. The main characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are Atticus and his two children, Jem and Scout, and their maid calpurnia. Then later in the book, Tom Robinson and Bob and Mayella Ewell become a very big part during the trial.
The setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is in the early 1930’s where the Great Depression and unemployment were very prominent in the United States. To Kill a Mockingbird is about three children that learning a lot about society in this brief amount of time. They find out how terrible racism is and they become more aware of life lessons that Atticus, their father, has bequeathed unto them. The theme that I believe is very prominent in To Kill a Mockingbird is loss of Innocence. This theme appears in the novel when Dill runs out of the courtroom crying, when Calpurnia yells at Jem and talks to him about the trial, and when scout connects a very big lesson to a situation with Jem and Arthur Radley.
The first scene takes place in the courthouse during the trial.
Dill, innocent as he is, doesn't understand why Mr. Gilmer is being mean to Tom Robinson. He doesn't understand that that is his job so he runs out of the courthouse crying. “Jem made me take dill out. for some reason dill started crying and couldn't stop……’it was just him I couldn't understand,’ dill said. ‘Who, Tom?’ ‘That old mr. Gilmer doin’ him thataway, talking so hateful to him—’” (Lee 365). By this passage Harper Lee is trying to show loss of innocence by showing just how innocent Dill actually is and that he can't understand why Mr. Gilmer is “doin’ him
thataway.”
The second scene takes place on the way home from the courthouse to the Finches house. Calpurnia, the maid, was told by Atticus to bring the children home. She starts pulling Jems ear and starts yelling at him for bringing Scout and Dill to the trial. “Skin ever one of you alive, the very idea, you children listenin’ to all that! Mister Jem, don't you know better then to take your little sister to the trial?” In this passage Harper Lee is trying to show that Calpurnia knows that the children shouldn't be at the trial because of how this situation is for their innocent perception of life.
The third scene takes place at the Finches house. Jem is laying unconscious in a bed because of the attack from Mr. Ewell on the way home for their school. Mr. Ewell would have killed him if it wasn't for Arthur Radley. Atticus wants to tell the truth and have the whole town find out, but Scout goes up to Atticus and says “well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn't it?” Which shows how mature Scout has become by being able to recognize these lessons that Atticus has bestowed upon her (Lee 367-370) By the scenes of Dill running out of the courthouse crying, Calpurnia yelling at Jem for taking them to the trial, and Scout recognizes a lesson that Atticus has taught her Lee is trying to show loss of innocence through them. Lee is trying to show how different the untainted minds of children are from the corrupt minds of adults. Loss of innocence is very embossed now because of all of the terrible things that are happening around the world and with easy access to these problems, it is very hard to keep children away. The trial really helps the children envisage how the world really works.