How Does Harper Lee Use The Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

812 Words4 Pages

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird brings out many emotions as you read the book. It was published in 1960 and became a total hit. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Alabama, in a small town, Maycomb, during the 60’s. The book makes you feel as if you were the main character, Scout, a young 8 year old girl. You get to experience how Scout learns the her town isn’t as innocence through the symbolic significance of the snowman, fire, and mad dog.innocent as it seems. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee foreshadows a loss of First, Harper Lee uses the snowman to foreshadow a loss of innocence. The snowman is made by Jem and Scout, right after it snowed, in Maycomb. There isn’t enough snow on the ground to actually make a snowman …show more content…

Before the trial Scout and Jem spotted a dog heading their way, they saw that it looked sick (mad), so they told Calpurnia about it. She came to check it out, then she rushed inside with the kids and called Tate, the sheriff. He comes with Atticus, sees the dog, then tells Atticus to take the gun and shoot the dog, but Atticus refuses. Tate shoves the gun at Atticus. Tate says, “For God’s sake, Mr. Finch, look where he is! Miss and you’ll go straight into the Radley house! I can’t shot that well and you know it!” (127). This quote shows us that Tate trusts in Atticus’ shooting more than he trusts his own. Later on in the story, during Atticus’ speech, during the trial, we’re show how he’s like the bullet taking down racism as one whole. Atticus says, “...the truth is this: some Negros lie, some Negros are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women-black or white…” (273). This quote shows that not all men can be trusted, but that doesn’t mean “all” men can’t be trusted. These two quotes relate to the loss of innocence, because they show us how Atticus, a bullet of justice, is unable to keep Jem from and Scout from losing their innocent views of their town, and being thrown into

Open Document