Examples Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

Mockingbirds: Emblems of innocence in To Kill A Mockingbird There are many mockingbirds in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The image of mockingbirds represent many people in the story and how many people take advantage of them for their own benefits. Scout, a young girl who lives in Maycomb is the story’s protagonist. She lives with her brother and father and occasionally meets Calpurnia their cook. For instance, Tom Robinson and Calpurnia are treated differently because of their skin color, however they are very close to the Finch family.

When people's azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work." (Lee 10) People put the blame on Boo whenever something bad had occurred because there was no other explanation and they know Boo had passed issues with committing crimes from his younger ages. This quote explains how the town feels about Mr. Boo Radley.

The three kids were chatting and Dill wondered what Boo looks like so Jem describes Boo as “about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained… There was an long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most or the time.” (Lee,16) This is the result of what happens when rumors are spread, people are misjudged and sometimes avoided like how Boo is shown throughout the book until the end. Boo Radley is wrongfully judged and admonished when it is just that not many people are circumspect.

After getting in trouble for typical rebellious adolescent behavior, Boo Radley has rarely been seen outside of his house. The mystery surrounding him makes others in the town intrigued about the “malevolent phantom” that “went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows” (Lee 10-11). Due to a combination of children’s imaginations and the variety of rumors spread throughout the town, people assumed Boo Radley was “about six-and-a-half feet tall” with “a long jagged scar that ran across his face” and “what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 16). The people of Maycomb were not accustomed to people who differed from them in any way and any minor difference could make them an outcast. When “The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb’s ways”, it was recognized as unusual and it further enhanced the beliefs that Boo Radley was a ‘monster’.

Jem has not yet learned about the prejudice that Maycomb’s people have and does not understand what Mrs. Dubose’s life is like. Not understanding Mrs. Dubose’s point of view, Jem aggressively destroys her front yard. Jem also allows rumors to cloud his view of Arthur Radley, otherwise known as Boo. Many people in Maycomb fear Boo due to his habit of staying indoors during the day. Their fear causes them to judge Boo as a malevolent person.

He is prominent in Scout’s younger years as a mysterious, macabre specter that Maycomb leaves alone. “... He dined on raw squirrels and any cat he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained… ” (16). Jem, Scout, and Dill are extremely fascinated by Boo. They go up to his house, attempt to give him a note, and even make up a game to act out a warped, farfetched version of his life story.

Boo was a man that had been locked up inside his home for many years and nobody had really seen him in a very long time and led to some people’s suspicions. Throughout the book Boo is mentioned as a wild crazy man because that was what he was as a child. It all started one night when Boo and some of his friends were doings things they weren’t suppose to and they got into big trouble. Boo’s father got very upset toward Boo’s actions and kept Him trapped inside his home. Boo being away from the town of Maycomb led people to make up crazy stories about Boo to tell the young kids that don’t know any better.

“Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird,’’ This is a famous quote from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. In the book a Mockingbird is a sign of innocence and is the symbol for several characters. Including: Tom Robinson, Scout, Jem, Dill, and other characters. Harper Lee shows that the innocent doesn’t always get what they deserve, and they sometimes lose their innocence, but other times it can help them out in risky situations.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird the author Harper Lee creates a strong theme showing how two of the main characters represent the innocence of a mockingbird. The two characters that are portrayed as sinners are accused of by men who are blinded by pride to the point where lives are taken. The virtue of Tom Robinson is displayed throughout the course of this story. For example, a witness from the audience at Tom Robinson’s trial speaks out and announces, “I just want the whole lot of you to know one thing right now.

(20) Jem’s exaggerated description demonstrates the community’s intense prejudice towards Boo Radley. The people are able to alienate a member based off of speculations. Scout, an innocent member of Maycomb, has grown up with the idea that Boo acts and looks like

In the story Boo Radley plays the role of Scout and Jem’s guardian angel. He watches over them and helps them when they get into trouble. In the first chapters, the kids make fun of Boo, they taunt him. All they know about him is what they have heard, that he is a crazy man. Throughout the story though, Boo proves them wrong.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee many characters are victims of the harsh conditions of Maycomb County. Often those who are seen to be metaphorical mockingbirds are punished the most. A mockingbird is one who only wants and attempts to do good. Characters such as Boo Radley, Jem Finch and Tom Robinson are exemplars of mockingbirds in Maycomb. In the novel it is explained by Atticus that killing a mockingbird is a sin because they do not do anything to harm to us like nesting in corncribs, or eating up the gardens, they only sing for us.

Mockingbirds symbolize innocence, and the idea of killing a mockingbird signifies destroying its innocence. In the book “To kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee, many of the characters can be identified as mockingbirds. They are the innocent people who have been harmed or tainted by evil. This is usually due to inequality. In the novel, there are many examples of inequality.

Rumors swept through the town, ruining a man’s reputation and giving him no reason to step outside of his own home. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Arthur “Boo” Radley is the most complex of Maycomb’s residents. Many say Boo is a killer that should not be trusted near children. However, Scout thinks otherwise as she tries to understand Boo herself. She learns more than she figured, as Boo teaches her numerous lessons without even meeting her.

In Maycomb, people fear what they do not know and what is unusual to them, hence shaping the rumours of Boo Radley to cope with the unknown. Considering he is unseen from the public eye, and has a messy past, many begin to fantasize what is happening with him currently by constructing stories. Anyone who claims that they know information on Boo, have no proof or firsthand experience to support it as the truth. Scout knows that Jem’s information source on Boo Radley is from another individual and their fantasies, “So Jem received most of his information from Miss Stephanie Crawford, a neighbourhood scold, who said she knew the whole thing.”