To Kill A Mockingbird Innocence Quotes

In reading “To Kill A Mockingbird” I learned that as a reader we are able to pick up on things before the actual characters in the book do, so we were able to see who the mockingbirds of the book were before they were mentioned or even if they were never mentioned as being so. Miss Maudie outlines the symbolism of what Atticus meant about mockingbirds when she hints that mockingbirds are innocent and do nothing but sing for us, therefore it is a sin to kill one (Lee 93; ch. 10). In the novel as a whole there is a constant battle of evil trying to destroy innocence, which the mockingbirds are meant to symbolize. The biggest and most noticeable mockingbird of the novel is Tom Robinson. Mr. Underwood was the one who gave us the reference …show more content…
Throughout the book he was mysterious but there were hints were thrown at us about who he truly was. Jem said, “I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 231 ch. 23). This quote makes me think that Boo Radley stays inside to stay away from all the harm that there is outside. A lot of the town would take advantage of Boo Radley, and they saw him as a bad guy. Not many people attempted to take a walk in his shoes, but if they would have, then they could have come to the same realization the kids did and seen that he was a good and innocent guy. Although it was never mentioned, the kids: Dill, Jem and Scout, are also mockingbirds of the book. Saying “It is a sin to kill a mockingbird” refers also to the loss of childhood innocence during the course of what the children discover about the how harsh life can be and the evils men do to one another. These children start off very innocent, but by the end of the novel they no longer have that innocence due to everything that is exposed to them. During the trial, the kids saw the bad side of Maycomb and in seeing all the prejudice and racism in the town, we see them lose their