Essay On Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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When a child has innocence and has gained no wisdom, they have yet to come of age. When these children experience harsh realities and gain knowledge they are forced into the nature of maturing. In her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows a trial in which harsh accusations are being thrown to Scout’s father and the man being charged. Another major case is also Boo Radley and how his story helped Scout gain wisdom. In her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee characterizes Scout as a child who matured and came of age in the face of unwanted and cruel situations, while at the same time, gaining wisdom. Harper Lee shows that one of the factors that make children come of age is when experiencing a loss of innocence. This usually happens when they face cruel and unwanted situations. One of these situations in To Kill A Mockingbird was the Tom Robinson trial. Scout …show more content…
Children also gain wisdom when coming of age. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus and Scout have several conversations about Boo Radley in which one of them contained an iconic message by Atticus. “If you learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ”(17). Scout’s doesn’t fully understand what Atticus means at first, but later takes his advice into consideration with everything that is going on around her. The point when Scout fully understands what Atticus means was when she took Boo Radley home after he saved Jem. “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough ”(374). This moment was like an epiphany to Scout. She really understood what Atticus meant when he said she had to experience what the person was going through to understand them. With this, Scout gained greater knowledge about the young adult