The Contrasts in Loss of Innocence In society, one can lose their innocence either in a heartbeat or over an extended period of time. William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, takes place in the 1950s during the Second World War with a group of boys stranded on an island with no signs of civilization. Golding explores the idea of losing innocence through one of the characters, Roger. Harper Lee explores the same concept in To Kill a Mockingbird through the main characters Jem and Scout. The novel is set in Alabama around the 1930s. Atticus Finch is Scout and Jem’s dad, who is also a lawyer and is working on a case with Tom Robinson, an African American man who is accused of rape. The novel follows the experiences of Jem and Scout as they learn …show more content…
One instance shortly before Scout and Jem hear the final verdict of the trial, when Jem talks to a man named Reverend and Jem says “‘He’s not supposed to lean, Reverend, but don’t fret, we’ve won it,”’he said wisely. “‘Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard—’”(Lee 279). Jem provides himself and Scout with reassurance that Tom isn’t guilty and will win the case. Lee emphasizes the fact that in this quote Jem and Scout have not been exposed to racism and injustice towards people of color. Another important moment in the book occurs shortly after the Tom Robinson trial, with the guilty verdict being given, Jem’s emotions reach a tipping point, and Lee states, “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. It ain’t right,” (Lee 284). This crucial moment signifies the abrupt loss of innocence for Jem and Scout as they witness the blatant discrimination towards Tom Robinson. This quote from Jem also provides insight into his mind as he fights with the emotions of injustice and …show more content…
Golding writes, “Roger with a sense of delirious abandonment leaned all his weight on the lever”(Golding 180). When Roger kills Piggy by releasing the boulder, Golding demonstrates Roger losing his innocence through the conscious decision he is making. Earlier he was on the verge of throwing rocks at Henry and hurting him, but something in his mind told him not to, but releasing the boulder and killing Piggy is a decision he made on his own. On the other hand, Scout and Jem lose their innocence directly after the Tom Robinson verdict, after observing firsthand the racism towards Tom. In the last chapter of the book, as Scout is walking home, Scout states, “‘As I made my way home I felt very old... As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else for us to learn...’” (Lee 373-374). In this quote Scout is self-reflecting on how she has been emotionally drained and tested through the past few days. Even though Scout and Jem are eager to learn, Scout realizes that by losing her innocence, there is a harsh reality of society that she isn’t supposed to see at her
They saw how prejudice affected the outcome before the outcome was even stated, and Scout realized what was going to happen to Tom Robinson: “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson” (240). This quote portrays how Scout is becoming more aware of the world around her because she knew what was going to happen to Tom Robinson. During the trial, she has already seen that Tom will be guilty, even though there is plenty of evidence pointing towards his innocence. The changes she went through and her increasing maturity helped her come to realize this. Soon after, the judge begins to poll the jury.
Being in the in-between stage of manhood and boyhood Jem is coming face to face with the harsh realities of the world, while still having the childish ideals of a young boy. In an ideal world Tom Robinson would be a free man, and Jem is old enough to realize that the only reason why he wasn’t set free was because of his race. When Scout dares to ask, “…how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home…” He is reminded of the same feeling he felt walking home from the trial when he said crying, “It ain’t right.” (Ch. 22) It wasn’t right that the jury found a man guilty on shaky evidence. The prosecuting side’s case was so shaky that it was almost expected that an acquittal would ensue, especially by Jem.
To begin with, Scout changes in the book by getting involved in the tom robinson. To regard Immediately after hearing Tom's guilty verdict, Jem breaks down and continually repeats, "It ain't right" (Lee 284). Witnessing injustice has a negative effect on Jem, and he becomes jaded about the prejudiced community members of Maycomb. Jem says.To explain, scout gets involved in the tom robinson case and by the end she realize that tom was not winning and jem starts to break down and scout sees how people treat each other differently. In conclusion, scout gets involved in the tom robinson case and see how the adults treat poorly with each other this changes scout to be
In the first part of the novel, Scout began to learn about innocence. Soon, in the second part of the novel, Scout sees the injustices that changes the innocent. After watching Atticus defend Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout wondered why the jury decided Tom was guilty. Atticus, defeated, told them, “I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it — seems that only children weep” (215).
While Atticus is representing Tom in the last of his trial, Jem and Scout return to find the jury still out (Lee 278). Reverend Skyes was surprised to still see the jury out and said he had never seen them stay out that this long (Lee 278-279). When the jury returns and the judge pulls the jury, Jem and Scout are shocked with what they hear. “Guilty...Guilty...Guilty...Guilty” (Lee 282). “I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them” (Lee 282). The jury is dismissed, Tom is taken away and Atticus begins to pack his things and go. As they are all exiting the courtroom, Scout says “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered…” (Lee 284). Jem’s tears are not tears of joy like everyone else rather tears of confusion and realization. Hearing the final verdict of Tom's case helps him see that the people of Maycomb are not the loving, caring, respectful people that he thought they were. Jem realizes that the world around him is not fair and equal like it should be. This is a big moment in the novel seeing as it is the biggest stepping stone in Jem growing up and seeing the world around him for the way it really
He then carries Jem home and sticks around until everything is raped up. After Scout walks him home, she stands on his front porch and looks at the events from the last few years through Boo Radley's eyes. Being able to put herself in someone else shoes is something Scout has been striving towards since the very begging of the novel. This is a huge development of maturity, because even for adults it is difficult to put yourself in someone else shoes, and be able to reflect on what you see. It takes watching her society unfold, and her life to being in danger to have her truly see the world through someone else
Scout loses her innocence throughout the story. For example, when Scout and Jem learned about drug addiction. Scout and Jem were exposed to this when Mrs. Dubose passed away. They learned that her cause of death was to drug addiction. Scout learned that Mrs. Dubose had no control over herself and the drugs ( Lee Chapter 11). Another example would be, when a mob forms in front of the jailhouse. In this part of the story, Scout, Jem, Dill,
This leads to Scout having a better understanding of the verdict in Tom Robinson’s case later in the story: “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson” (240). Furthermore, Scout reacts to the verdict far more calmly than Jem, who cries after hearing it. The conflict causes Scout to become mature and wise for her age, which leads to her being able to handle an injustice
The challenge of this struggle causes him great emotional pain as he tries to come to terms with disappointing realities of inequality, racism, and general unfairness. Scout also struggles to understand these things, but even following the trial is able to maintain her belief in the goodness of human nature. At the end of the novel, both children are faced with true evil, as Bob Ewell tries to kill them. The bravery and courage to help the children, in Boo Radley, saves them. In this final conflict between these opposing forces, goodness prevails over
Finally, Jem grew up in a nonracist household with one of the least prejudiced fathers, so when he goes out into Maycomb for Tom Robinson’s trial and assumes that everyone thinks the same, he is horrified to find that even though the evidence is on his side, Tom Robinson is convicted because of his ethnicity. This experience teaches Jem that not everyone thinks everybody is equal, and that some people even discriminate against people of different races. Lee writes of a discussion between Jem and Reverend in the courtroom: “Jem smiled. “He’s not supposed to lean, reverend, but don’t fret, we’ve won it,” he said wisely. “Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard-- “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr.Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man. . . .”’
Jem's definition of valor changes as he matures; he gains insight in the world. At the beginning of the novel, he only thinks of bravery as simply touching the Radley’s house, because "in all his life, [he] had never declined a dare”(Lee 13). Jem is quite intrigued and curious about Boo’s life throughout the novel and often finds himself risking everything just to get a better understanding of the complex character. At first, like any young boy, Jem tends to judge a book by its cover, but after months of growing into an understanding young man, he comes to the realization that Boo is not the monster everyone thinks he is. Jem comes to the conclusion that maybe Boo is just as scared of what's outside as the kids are of whats inside the Radley house; “Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside”( Lee 227). Also throughout the trial, Jem shows his interest in the Tom Robinson case. He feels sympathy for the Robinson family and grows to truly understand the extent of how wrong it was for Tom to be found guilty. He shows a lot of emotion when he cries after the verdict was revealed, "It was Jem's turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. It ain't right,' he muttered It ain't right, Atticus,' said Jem. No son, it's
For numerous years, folks such as Miss Stephanie Crawford had spread rumors about what had become of the Radley residence. Scout’s lack of maturity notably shined here because her curiosity always got the best of her. While being curious does not equal lack of maturity, curiousness does, more often than not, lead to the making of uneducated decisions. Scout had unexpectedly become a speculator of the Radleys, having always assumed the horror stories told about them were true, and therefore could not help but get involved in Jem’s idea of sneaking on to the Radley property. After that escapade, the children eased away from the investigation due to the courthouse trial, in which their father played a major role. Through out the entire novel, Scout had tried to act as old as her brother, so as to prove to him and anyone who doubted her, that she was mature and could partake in ‘adult’ things, like observing the courthouse trial. When Reverend Sykes scolded Jem for speaking about rape in the presence of Scout at the court, Jem stated: “‘Aw, she doesn't know what we're talkin’ about, … Scout, this is too old for you, ain’t
This is seen when Tom Robinson’s rape trial has ended and the jury is deliberating on his fate. Jem, a young boy ignorant of the evil and hatred existing in Maycomb, is confident that the jury will acquit Robinson, saying to Scout, ““He’s just gone over the evidence,” Jem whispered, “and we’re gonna win, Scout. I don’t see how we can’t.”” Yet Atticus, wiser to the maliciousness present in society, is far less optimistic. When Jem asks, “You think they’ll acquit him that fast?”, Atticus “[opens] his mouth to answer, but [shuts] it and [leaves Scout and Jem],” a clear sign that he doesn’t expect the jury to decide in favor of Tom Robinson. When the jury inevitably finds Robinson guilty, Jem is stunned and horrified. Lee writes, “[Jem’s] hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them,” showing that Jem views the ballots as horrific on a deeply personal level. This unpleasant surprise influences Jem to view Maycomb in a harsher, more bitter light. He says to Miss Maudie, “I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that’s what they seemed like,” showing his increasing disillusionment towards the town and its inhabitants. Yet Atticus, despite having witnessed those same events, is able to retain his faith in
Jem is revealed to the world of racism. After the trial, he is upset at the unfair jury. Scout says, “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square, where we found Atticus waiting… ‘It ain’t right, Atticus,’ said Jem”(Lee,284).
Jem’s reaction to the results of the trial was one of the most powerful reactions of them all. Throughout the whole case Jem had hope that Tom will be found innocent so when he was announced as guilty he was stunned. Scout noted how each time the word “guilty” was spoken Jem reacted as if he was being stabbed. Jem later cries when they leave the courtroom, the