"To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee.

Prejudice Through A Child's Eyes

Children are the keepers of all that is good and innocent. If they came into this world with the experiences and mindset that most adults have, the world would not be the same as it is. In the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the main characters show many moments of innocence. Growing up in a small Alabama town, during the nineteen-thirties, these three children have adventures which help them overcome the prejudices surrounding them. Due to their lack of knowledge of the world, children, growing up around these prejudices, can still see the world in a different light, still be innocent.

Charles Baker Harris, commonly known as Dill, is at a young age where he does not understand the ways of the adult world. An example of this is the way he tells Jem about his future career;

I think I'll be a clown when I get grown... there ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off. (216)

Dill believes that to live a peaceful life away from the prejudices of society he needs to become a clown. He does not realize that no matter what he does when he gets older he will always have to deal with prejudice in one way or another. Dill learns about racism for the first time, during the trial of Tom Robinson, when Jem says, in context to the children of Dalphus Raymond;

Colored folks won't have 'em because they're half white; white folks won't have 'em 'cause they're colored, so they're just in-betweens, don't belong anywhere. (161)

Dill does not see why the children would not be accepted by either blacks or whites. He reasons since they...