Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

The evils of the world are constantly trying to take away the innocence of those left innocent. In To Kill a Mockingbird the author made a bold statement about innocence. The characters in the story encountered many obstacles that could have easily taken away their innocence. The author made this statement very well by using a major historical event to influence the book. The trial of the Scottsboro boys influenced the book greatly. In this trial the innocence of nine young boys were taken away from them for the simple reason that they were black. The author pulled many details from this trial to add into the book but also left out many details to make a point. In the book there was a major trial where an innocent black man, Tom Robinson …show more content…
Another all-white jury wouldn’t have been good for the Scottsboro boys again. But once again jury the jury in the Scottsboro trials consisted of all white men but this time they were all farmers. In To Kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson’s trial had a jury made of all farmers assumable that they were white. “The jury sat to the left, under long windows. Sunburned, lanky, they seemed to be all farmers, but this was natural:” (Lee 164) this shows that the jury was average men. Lee used this detail from the trial to show that they were average men. But they were also white, but the Great Depression had hit and farmers were truly affected. White men who were farmers were very racist in that time and probably very bitter because of their misfortune. Convicting a black man of rape that he may or may not have done was going to be an easy task for them. This again leads back to the theme of innocence. The fate of these black men rested in the hands of twelve men who didn’t even know them and didn’t care about them. The men thought they were worthless even useless. The innocence of the men didn’t mean anything. The entire jury saw just a simple case of black versus