Examples Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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This extract pinpoints a significant point in Jem and Scout’s journey to experience from innocence. Previous to the extract, Scout’s initial innocence is illustrated when she asks Atticus what a “nigger-lover” is, this is revealing because it shows that Scout was infuriated by a comment she didn’t properly understand. As well as this, Jem also demonstrates a transition from innocence to experience as he goes from being haunted by the camellia to being able to empathise with Mrs Dubose. Furthermore, by subverting the socially accepted ideals of femininity, Lee uses Mrs Dubose’s morphine addiction in order to make her character memorable and significant. At the beginning of the extract Lee begins indicate the beginning of Jem’s transition from innocence to experience by employing a semantic field of time passing, using phrases like, “days grew longer…Every night…again this year” This prepares Mrs Dubose’s death to be the trigger for Jem’s full transformation into understanding what it really is to be a gentleman; to be able to empathise with other people thus realising what real courage is. Mrs Dubose’s overwhelming…show more content…
Furthermore, whilst Mrs Dubose’s minimal kindness is shown, Jessie, Mrs Dubose’s caretaker, prepares the box. Whilst Jessie cared greatly for Mrs Dubose, the backwards nature of Maycomb is illustrated here as she most likely thinks of Jessie as her “slave” as her racist nature has already been established. This links to the Jim Crow laws that operated in the 1930s that regulated relationships and communication between the races, as Mrs Dubose views all black people as inferior to
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