Essay Sample: Loss of Innocence in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

How did Harper Lee, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize describe ‘innocence’ and what character did she use to examine that description? The term innocence means being sinless of crime or offense in any kind of state. Connecting that definition with the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee characterizes a few people to portray innocence, and the most significant character who is represented as innocent is Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell, and obviously, there was no chance of the court acknowledging a black man’s testimony. Throughout the story, Harper Lee and Tom Robinson contribute to bringing out the meaning of innocence in a variety of situations including the court scene, and the sureness of Tom Robinson’s innocence is revealed. The word ‘Innocence’ is an essential term that also relates to the title of the book - ‘mockingbird’ represents innocence and sinlessness.

To start, Harper Lee composes the negative life routine of the black people at that period of time. And, Tom Robinson, a black male, is certainly involved as a target of discrimination from white people. But Harper Lee characterized Tom Robinson slightly differently from the other black people. Tom Robinson was privileged to meet Atticus when defending himself from the Ewells and even got to set himself in court. The reason why Harper Lee specialized Tom Robinson was to show how important innocence is, and why it should be protected. Harper Lee also used the character Tom Robinson to define her meaning of innocence.

Continuing with the same topic, Harper Lee reveals what she thinks about ‘innocence’ by comparing Tom Robinson and the Mockinbird. She writes about why no one should kill mockingbirds and the reason for it which is they don’t do any harm to you, but rather sing beautiful songs, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy…That’s why it’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird” (90). This means that she surely knew what innocence was, and to whom it applied. Even Though Harper Lee mentions ‘mockingbirds’ only 6 times in the entire book, connecting the term innocence to the book was necessary that she included ‘mockingbird’ in the title. In the book, Harper Lee mentions about Tom Robinson was judged unfairly because of his skin color, and also the mockingbirds got killed mercilessly because of their beauty and the profit they give. By comparing the two happenings, it is seen that Harper Lee meant to contrast Tom Robinson and the Mockingbird in regards to their innocence.

Moving the focus to Tom, Tom Robinson prodigiously contributes to the definition of ‘innocence’ and later turns out to be the most imperative character to define ‘innocence’. Tom Robinson develops the theme ‘innocence’ in chapters 17 and 18. The way that Tom Robinson proves/develops the theme is by showing the evidence of his innocence. Firstly, Tom Robinson could not have punched Mayella Ewell as she has explained because Tom Robinson’s physical condition didn’t match Mayella’s testimony. Tom Robinson could barely use his left hand, but Mayella testified that Tom Robinson punched her with his left hand, “His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hang dead at his side.” (186). The second piece of evidence that builds up the innocence of Tom Robinson can be found in chapter 25. During the exercise period, Tom Robinson attempts to run away, but fails and gets killed. This proves that Tom Robinson is innocent because normally a guilty person would not be so obsessed with escaping, but since Tom Robinson was innocent, he wanted to get out of the prison badly, “...They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over.” (235). All these events point to the innocence of Tom Robinson.

In conclusion, the term ‘innocence’ is developed by Tom Robinson, who was accused raping a white girl, and Harper Lee contacts her meaning of innocence to how Tom Robinson acts throughout the novel. Tom Robinson, despite his physical condition and evidence of his innocence, was judged guilty and once more, he shows that he is innocent by attempting to run away from the jail. The book also presents the connection that Harper Lee made between the Mockingbird and Tom Robinson. Innocence was certainly one of the most important themes of the book, and the theme was absorbed in the book effectively.