Eyes may be windows to the soul, but novels can be considered windows to the world that stretches beyond us.

Windows that, before we stepped away from our playhouse of broken crayons and stuffed animals, were wrenched shut. But perhaps we witness a tragic, petrifying event — a murder, a bombing on the news — and so the window swings open in reckless abandon. Or, as we take that first, tentative inhale from a cigarette, and then an eager second, third, fourth … the window creaks open slowly on unoiled hinges.

But what do we see when the window opens?

The complete imperfection of the world, staring us in the face.

That’s how English teacher Kate Evard defines “loss of innocence,” a term used to describe how youth in the real world and the characters of coming-age-novels undergo the journey of adolescence. The former develop a maturity and awareness of the imperfect, evil and painful world around them as time passes by, while, page after page, the latter experience the same transition.

Evard describes the character development of Scout, the young female heroine in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (read by MVHS freshmen), as an example of such a transition. Throughout the novel, Scout realizes the city of Maycomb she’s lived in her entire life isn’t kindhearted and safe after all. English teacher Lynn Rose references the same novel but recalls a quote by Scout’s brother, Jem, instead. After witnessing a black man being unfairly tried in court, Jem says he feels like “a caterpillar in a cocoon,” reflecting on how the racism of both his town and the people he grew up with has bubbled up above the surface.

“It's that idea of coming out of the cocoon,” Rose said. “You can't get back into the safety of that. And I think that just that one small phrase sums up that loss of innocence. Once that innocence has been lost, you can’t — you can't get back to it.”

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