Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Although Harper Lee is extremely wealthy because of To Kill a Mockingbird, she lives without air conditioning, a washing machine, or a cell phone. Harper Lee has become a big success from her first book, yet she still lives a humble, simple life. She doesn’t spend her money on unnecessary things, in fact she gives most of her money to her local Methodist church. Lee lives like this for a reason. She knows that she can keep some of her innocence by not letting her wealth corrupt her life. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Miss Maudie and Jem to personify innocence, which combined with details that describe purity allow readers to experience a trial and consider what has to happen for your innocence to become lost. Charles Lamb, a remarkable writer and essayist, once said, “Lawyers, I suppose were children once.” Lee uses this quote in To Kill a Mockingbird to convey the theme of innocence. When someone loses their innocence they become more mature and are exposed to the true reality of the world. Lawyers don’t have innocence. They’ve experienced…show more content…
Jem personifies innocence in the beginning in the book. He, much like Scout, wasn't exposed to the real world. Jem started to realize the true world with the help of Atticus and Mrs. Dubose and through his own discoveries he made. In chapter 23, Jem said, “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.” Jem realized through his maturing that life is unfair. Boo Radley didn’t want to deal with the unfairness so he decided to stay shut up in his house. Jem can now see life through Boo’s perspective and see why he wouldn’t want to come out. In reality, life isn’t fair. Children don’t realize the unfairness until they start to mature and lose their innocence. Jem experiences this in chapter 23, he has matured and can now see the
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