To Kill a Mockingbird: The Death of Innocence The melody of a songbird can evoke happiness in anyone, as can the smiling face of a child. The thrush sings for the sake of singing, and an innocent child has an innate cheerfulness, as natural as instinct. Yet the thrush's song dies as easily as innocence. At the beginning of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem are depicted as innocent, uncorrupted by our world of prejudice and racism. Their world is simple, sensible, the world of a child. However, by the end of the novel, their world has expanded to encompass the irrational nature of humans. Jem and Scout's growth is described by a series of events that shatter their innocence as easily as a mockingbird can be silenced. One of the first cracks in their armor of naivety that protected them was social prejudice. This was presented to them in the form of Aunt Alexandra. Scout was devastated when Aunt Alexandra sent Atticus to talk to Scout and Jem. “'You are not ordinary people, you are the product of several generations of polite upbringing...try to behave like the little lady and gentleman that you are'” (Lee 133). Scout was angry because he was essentially telling her not to be herself. Aunt Alexandra wanted to change Scout's personality to conform to society's ideas of what was right for a girl in those times. It seemed that Atticus had almost encouraged them to find their own path, despite the disapproval of many in town; the suit was allowed to Scout, a female, and during the day they could run freely around the few surrounding houses. Although the incident with Atticus preaching Aunt Alexandra's ideas made Scout feel overwhelmed, Atticus stood up to Aunt Alexandra by telling Scout to forget what Aunt Alexandra told him to say, which reassured Scout somewhat. Another way Aunt Alexandra introduced Jem and Scout to social prejudice was how she would not let Scout play with Walter Cunningham. Because the Cunninghams were farmers who lived outside the city, Aunt Alexandra considered Walter socially inferior and said she would only let him into the house on business. "'Because he's trash, that's why you can't play with him (Lee 225).' " This exposure to social prejudice affected Scout even more, because this time Atticus couldn't say: forget it.