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Innocence Is Brilliant

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Submitted By sharonlovestom
Words 542
Pages 3
Sharon Shut
Mr. Butler
Literature- Period 8
3 March 2011

Innocence is Brilliant
By: Sharon Shut

To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee. Harper Lee’s intention in writing this book was to shed light on the fact that there is an evil that exists in all of the characters. This evil is what prevents the possibility of humans creating a perfect world or 'utopia'. This is emphasized by racism, the gossip and legends that spread around town, especially about Boo Radley, that even those who seem like they are good, still have evil in themselves, this is emphasized through Atticus, when he shoots the dog, and mainly how people loose innocence over time, like Jem and Scout. One of the key themes is definitely innocence and how even the most unexpected things can be innocent.

In the beginning of the book examples of innocence are stated when Scout tries to explain to her teacher that she is embarrassing Walter Cunningham by offering him something that he won't be able to pay back. Scout realizes that because her teacher isn't a local, she won't know that about the Cunninghams, but Scout's explanation gets her into trouble. She wasn't trying to be insulting, but Miss Caroline mistook her frank and innocent explanation as condescension or rudeness and punished her for it.

Another example is when Scout is too young to understand the social graces of Southern hospitality that say that you always make people feel at home and welcome no matter how unusual their habits may be.

An additional example is when Atticus suggested they return the blanket to the Radley house, Jem poured out all the secrets they'd been keeping about their contact with Boo Radley and how Nathan found ways to prevent it. Jem didn't want to return the blanket because he didn't want to get Boo into trouble since he'd never done anything but help them out although he'd had plenty of

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