of school, when Scout was trying to help the teacher and Walter by telling her that he was
a Cunningham and wouldn’t take anything that he couldn’t pay back. Scout said this to
the teacher only to inform her. She was only trying to help out in the situation where
Walter had no lunch and the teacher was offering him lunch money. Scout got in a big
fist fight with Walter in the playground after being severely punished by her teacher. Jem
saw this and ran to Scout to stop her from getting at Walter. Instead of speaking ill of him,
he invited him to his house for dinner. This is one of the many incidents where Scout
stumbles across injustice. Furthermore, he makes Scout apologize to Walter. This is an
incident where Scout learns that sometimes the rules can be bent and that even adults
sometimes break the rules to enlighten the situation. In this fragment of the story Jem
says “Our daddy’s is a friend of your daddy’s.” This shows how Jem thinks of ways to
comfort him. Instead of being immature to join in the fight, separates them and tells
Scout to apologize. The incident on the first day of school shows the mature side of Jem
and also the injustice Scout encounters on the first day of school connects with the
injustice theme.
Lee has also shown injustice in court case of Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused
of raping a white woman. This was a case that Atticus was to lose. However, he leaves
that thought behind and tries his best to get Tom the best result possible. When Scout
hears about the case, she asks why he was defending him even though the result was so
definite. This is another point where Scout surpasses injustice. She knows very well that
Tom was not guilty for this case. She somehow believed that the good will win in the end
no matter what. In the case, it was one-sided and it was so clear that Tom would be found
guilty. The children were watching the case from the colored bench so that they were
well hidden from Atticus’s view. Jem was watching the case closely and found out soon
that the jury was biased and the result of the case wouldn’t be fair for Tom. In the case,
words such as ‘liar’ and ‘impudent’ built up the tension as the novel reaches its climax.
Also, way they treated Tom by usage of the word ‘negro’ gave an indication of the time
of the setting and the racism that was still a serious matter at this time. While the
children was watching the case they encounter another situation which adds up to the loss
of innocence.
Lastly, the children learn that they have to make decisions for themselves. The children
learn that decision making can get harder in certain times. The children start off at
making decision on whether or not they were going to go up to the Radley’s house to
touch the door. This was the biggest fear for the children and it was one of the decisions
they hesitated on. At first, the children can tell what is right and what is wrong as clearly
as black and white. But as they experience the events colours start to appear. This makes
them consider whether or not they are making the right decision under the circumstances.
This is when Scout finds out that when you make a decision it is more than just
considering if it is right or wrong. This is a signal which shows loss of innocence. Atticus
has proven this to them by an example. This was when the children found out that their
father was the best shooter in Maycomb. This made the children very proud as they
thought of him as an old man and was ashamed of having such an old father. When they
learn this truth, the children were boasting to the other children in school. However,
Atticus made a stop to this by saying that people must consider what they are saying
before they say it out loud. When the children finally understood the meaning of this
they showed a much mature side of themselves and let their child-like attitude behind.
To conclude, the loss of innocence is shown through the character of Jem, the Tom
Robinson case and by the decisions they make.
