Author's Note- This is my final essay for To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. As you probably know this is a book we are reading as a class in Language Arts. This is a theme analysis with text evidence supporting my theory. Enjoy
They say that childhood is not a way of being but a state of mind. Others say that innocence is most active in the mind of a child. So, does that mean, theoretically, that an adult can be innocent? Of course they can. If a child is never humbled anywhere along his or her lifetime, they will remain innocent forever. I would even actually say that in the story of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the innocence usually thought to be only in the minds of the children is best demonstrated through the actions of the adults.
For starters I think that I will begin by analyzing the actions of Atticus Finch, the town lawyer and peacekeeper. He is well known as never being fazed by anything, never panicking in tough situations, always considering the consequences but never letting them influence his decisions, he is the last person on earth most people would think of as being innocent. But he is. Taking this case, for example, was an action of innocence. As was the time when he did nothing to restrain Bob Ewell. Atticus is so convinced that that he understands the facts of the world, when really, all he knows is what he has experience with. He thinks he knows how everyone will respond to his case. He thinks he knows the need for revenge in Bob's head. He thinks that everyone might give him a chance to expose that flaws of the human race and then be glad to change themselves. Maybe, just possibly, Atticus Finch is a little naïve in that matter. Naïve in the idea that he put himself and his children in danger for their lives without realizing it. In fact, ignoring all the fancy dialect and the wise opinions, Atticus Finch seems to act; sometimes more than others; just like a child himself.
After being accused of raping young Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, an innocent black, is found guilty and sent to a black prison camp. Days later he is shot on an escape attempt and everyone in town believes justice has been served. Innocence, as it is the topic of my paper, is nowhere if not in the mind of this one man. Simply pleading innocent, which he was, at his trial was an act of innocence. Trying to escape a prison would be another. This man barely had the common sense to run away from the Ewell house when he say Bob approaching. No, I'm not saying he's stupid. No, this doesn't mean he's ignorant. Nor is he necessarily naïve either. Tom Robinson is completely blinded by his simple innocence. And now he is dead because of it.
Bob Ewell, who I have mentioned multiple times before, is just another face in the theme of innocence. In the end, of course, he's dead(see a pattern?), but during his life he never, not once, ever, thought of anyone but himself. This trial was nothing but a chance to get more money by weaseling his way through the holes in society. His kids were nothing but pawns in order to get what he wanted. He was an evil old man, and however smart and devious he was, he was still quite innocent in some terms of the word. Without realizing what damage his temper can cause, he somehow turned the entire town against him. Not that they weren't before, but now more than ever they want him to stay in his place. Or he might just end up in a position he does not want to be in.
"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard but I know you'll go after bird. Shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
Atticus uses his words of wisdom once again to tell Jem and Scout about the ways of the world. Maybe it's just coincidence that later in the book a bunch of mockingbirds would be dead. Maybe, but I don't think so. Mockingbirds are basically the model of innocence, they never hurt anyone, they sing and play and have babies. Why would you want to shoot them? Because we are us. And that's what we do. Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Bob Ewell are just like mockingbirds themselves. Yet almost all of them end up dead. Harper Lee was trying to tell us something.
Many times in our society we have come across adults that haven't moved out of, so to speak, their childlike minds. Innocence, or not knowing or understanding beyond what you see in your head, is found everywhere. Whether it's in children or adults, that doesn't matter all that much, but what does matter is that you treat it simply like you do a learning disability. It is as such, only about a billion times more common. Everyone has a little innocence, just a smidgen bit. And so, I suppose, the moral of the story is that it doesn't matter your age- your height, don't judge someone by what they can't see, judge them by how they use what they can see.
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