Lorenzo's 2nd Blog entry.

Early-Middle.

Theme: Loss of Innocence.

"... He stood there until nightfall, and I waited for him. When we went in the house I saw he had been crying ... "

Chapter 7, page 71.

Jem was depicted as a protector and was a source of answers to his younger sister, Scout, most of the time even in their young ages. Scout would almost often take Jem's advice as if it was carved on sacred scriptures and always makes it a point to ask her brother first about anything. Although Jem's answers could be considered as something that lacks experience, half baked, naive and innocent, she still heads his advices. Innocence here is described, " [as] the lack of knowledge or understanding," in any matter and/or situation. In this particular chapter, Jem's innocence in general, was slowly fading. As he realizes that his relationship with the mysterious figure of Maycomb, Boo Radley, was slowly becoming tangible and evident through the assumed gifts that he received from the latter, this ephemeral connection was impeded by Nathan Radley. Mr. Radley terminated the catalyst of the connection between Jem and Boo, by cementing the empty hole of the tree on the front yard of the Radley's. Jem, at first, was puzzled and perplexed by this occurrence and decided to ask Mr. Radley if he was the man at fault of this event. Surely enough, his inquisition on the matter was proven factual by Mr. Radley, although Jem found Mr. Radley's premise quite unorthodox. He then asks his Dad, Atticus and unravels the mystery himself - That friendship or socializing with Boo Radley is unwanted and is strongly opposed by the Radley's. This thought enabled Jem's perspective on his friendship with Boo to cease, and this resulted, slowly, to the beginning of his loss of innocence. In our society today, we still feel the grief and pain of losing something that is close to our hearts. Like the pain that Jem suffered after realizing the horrid truth, we too also feel this suffering. Although, through this pain, we gain new experiences, thoughts and ideals that will surely help us to mature - and to lose our innocence in certain affairs. Through time, as we compare the knowledge that we acquire to that of we have lost, it is relatively the same as to what we gain and lose in our innocence. Facts and certain truths in our society are slowly introduced to us as we grow older. Even if these facts were once devoid to our knowledge and even though sometimes they question the basic foundation of our morality, values and virtues, we will eventually encounter them - and lose our innocence. This occurrence may be something that we eagerly wish to happen, or maybe something that we inevitably avoid, but loss of innocence is part of growing up - and yes, we grow up.