The book To Kill A Mockingbird, by the author Harper Lee brings many complex themes together into one book. Although the themes range from all kinds of discrimination: race, gender, religion, etc. to the coexistence of good and evil, the theme that resonated the most for me was the loss of natural childhood innocence.
As children, we hold a certain naive sense of the world. We all assume that good always triumphs over evil, that every person is a good person, and that people will naturally do what we consider right. At some point everyone realizes that is is seldom the case. There are many people who genuinely do good in the world just for the sake of doing it, but there are far more people who set out to cause harm to others for precisely the same reasons. If we never lost this naive sense of the world, we wouldn't be able to function in life, we would be used and abused by those around us. Instead, it is important to be able to see both the good and the bad side in everyone.
The character Scout has several incidents in her life that mark the loss of her innocence, specifically Tom Robinson's conviction, and subsequent death, as well as Bob Ewell's vengeful actions in the time after the trial. Instead of having specific events mark the Loss of my innocence, it happened gradually for me. I spent most of time in middle school with an extremely naive sense of the world; I was shocked, and didn't know how to react whenever anyone did something I considered "wrong."
The term "loss of innocence" hints at something bad, but it isn't. Losing your childlike view of the world is a simple part of getting older, and we are eventually in a better spot because of it. I am glad my horizons have broadened, and I am happier because of it. Personally, if I met myself from three years ago, I wouldn't be able to stand him.
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