Author's Note- This essay was a struggle for me to start writing, but once I got into it, the writing process became a lot easier. I didn't like it as much in the beginning, but the more I wrote, the better I felt about it. I'm still a bit iffy on the conclusion, though. Comments are appreciated!!
Remember the lunchbox days, the firefly-catching days, from what seems like an eternity ago? Remember that feeling of pure innocence, when you believed in everything? That's something that we all cherish, something even the talented young country star Taylor Swift wrote about in her beautifully eerie song, Innocent. The amazing author of To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, wrote about it, too. That pure innocence these gifted artists told of is the whole lifestyle of a delicate mockingbird. A mockingbird represents innocence -- it never does anything wrong. All they do is sing for us. That's why killing a mockingbird is a sin. If you shoot it, you're hurting something that never did anything but spread happiness throughout the world, minding its own business while gracefully and swiftly buzzing around, humming its tune. There are two mockingbirds in Maycomb County: poor Tom Robinson, who was murdered because of the townspeople's racism and closed minds, and Boo Radley, the lucky one of the two birds, who, although didn't necessarily have a peaceful upbringing, still got his second chance.
All the citizens of Maycomb County are completely and unchangeably set in their ways. They're so blinded by racism and full of prejudice that even when all the evidence points towards Bob Ewell, like the fact that his dominant hand was clearly his left, and the attack on Mayella was obviously lead by a left handed person, but the accused, Tom Robinson, has lost all use of his left hand, all they see is a black man being accused for raping a white girl. That's enough reason for them to sentence him guilty. He was completely innocent -- he did nothing wrong. Yet, because of something as trivial as the color of his skin, he was still sentenced as guilty, which ultimately led him to his untimely death.
Boo Radley, the mockingbird that lived, made a foolish mistake back in his childhood, and because of it, his dad kept him locked up in their dark, creepy house for years and years. All he does is sit idly by and watch while things happen in the town, and besides the stupid thing he did way back when, he's done nothing wrong. He wraps Jem and Scout in blankets on their cold night outside and even attempts to stitch up Jem's ripped pants. In the end, he saves the children's lives by killing Bob Ewell. The sheriff ultimately rules his death as "an accident", even though he knew it obviously wasn't. The reason that he didn't put him on trial was because, like Scout said, "well it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" (276). He did nothing wrong. In fact, he ended up saving the lives of two children from a man trying to kill them and saved Mayella Ewell from eventually getting beaten by her father again. To put him up for trial would be like killing a mockingbird.
Innocence is a gift -- although everyone is born with it, few can keep it in their grasp as the years slowly slide by. To be able to keep that innocence is like magic- and the most tragic event of all is when someone who has that beautiful gift, that magic, is killed, especially over something as frivolous as their race. The devastating story of Tom Robinson's death helped the sheriff of Maycomb County realize this, and prevent another innocent mockingbird from being savagely shot down.
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