Innocence To Experience

– To Kill A Mockingbird Essay, Research Paper

11/27/98

To Kill A Mockingbird

By, Harper Lee

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.”(Lee 9). This environment, as Scout Finch accurately describes, is not conducive to young children, loud noises, and games. But, the Finch children and Dill must occupy themselves in order to avoid boredom. Their surroundings are their boundaries, but in their minds, they have no physical confines. Although the physical “boundaries were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house two doors to the north…, and the Radley Place three doors to the south,”(Lee 11) Jem, Scout, and Dill find ways to use the limits, in conjunction with their imaginations, to amuse themselves. The children are the ones who change the old town and make it full of unexpected events. In the same way as the children, the adults of the novel play games that come from their imaginations and, they themselves are the ones who provide the fear for everyone in the county to fear. “Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself”(10). The adults and the children share the fact that they both play games, but a difference also exists between them. The children enact their entertainment, knowing that the games could get violent, but in the end, when the games are over, all the players are able to return home. On the other hand, the adults play their adult games, hurting anyone who does not play by the given rules, and not everyone is fortunate enough to return home. The children pretend to be violent at times but the adults actually are violent. As the children move through the novel, they use these games to develop from their innocence to a level of experience by actualizing the realities of their games through the lives of the adults. Through their own games and through the games of the adults, the children learn values of respect, courage, and understanding.

As most children naturally do, Jem, Scout, and their newly-found friend Dill find amusements to make the days pass with excitement. When they first meet Dill, they are beginning the “day’s play in the backyard”(11). The implication is that it becomes routine for them to play and that each day brings on a different experience. When Dill joins them in their daily adventures, they begin to create more elaborate activities. Many days they spend improving the treehouse, “fussing”(12), and acting out parts of plays by Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Their games of Tom Swift, The Rover Boys, and The Gray Ghost are the source of their pleasures for hours and days upon end. Once these games seem rote and overplayed, they decide to make Boo Radley come out. The mystery of Boo Radley is appealing and leaves more room for their imaginations to grow. Thus, the “Boo Radley” plays begin. These plays are innocent in their motives and since they are not real, the consequences are virtually nonexistent. Although these plays are simply for amusement, in the end, they teach Jem, Scout, and Dill lessons about respect, courage, and understanding. The “Boo” games begin with a simple dare that Jem has to carry out in order to gain respect from his sister and friend. By slapping the Radley’s house, he is almost a hero for a brief moment- a hero that Scout and Dill admire because of his tremendous courage. Scout also has her turn to prove herself to the boys, but the opportunity comes to her as a surprise. As she rolls uncontrollably in a tire into the Radley’s front yard, her fear heightens with every turn and the smartest thing for her to do is to run away as fast and as far away as possible. Scout and Jem both learn about courage in the first Boo games they invent by testing their levels of fear.

The next stage in their Boo pursuits leads out of discussions with the wise, lady neighbors about “B-Mr. Arthur’s” past (50). The children have their prior assumptions about Boo from the wild stories, rumors, and vague answers they receive from Miss Stephanie Crawford , Atticus, and Miss. Maudie. The stories only further their imaginations to run wild because Boo is still a mystery. The children travel through phases in the Boo games, the first of which involves violence. They act out different versions of Boo stabbing his father in the leg with scissors and other horrible, violent acts on Boo’s part. As the games become routine, they take a different perspective and see Boo as a positive figure. Boo, to them, is a potential friend-if only they could let him know their harmless intentions. So they embark on yet another quest to try to reach Boo. The experience of placing a note on the windowsill of the Radley Place turns sour when Atticus walks into the scene and reprimands them for bothering someone who obviously wants to be left alone. Despite Atticus’ warnings, the children’s thirst for knowledge of Boo’s life drives them to their most dangerous adventure thus far. The new idea of looking into the window of the house is a turning point in the novel because it pushes the children closer to the reality of the adult world. Mr. Nathan Radley catches them in a roundabout way, and the three mischievous kids realize how far they have gone away from the “game.” Before that night, Boo is simply a game. The incident included t