In this book, is innocence preserved or is it replaced by bitter experience?Is the mockingbird killed after all?

I think that, in some ways, innocence is both preserved
and replaced by bitter experience in this novel. The lesson that an adult Scout is
trying to teach by telling her story is one of the importance of innocence. However, it
is a concept that cannot be fully understood or appreciated without the wisdom that
comes fro experience. To Scout, innocence was a given until she experienced the outcomes
of the events of that summer. Seeing a group of men that she knew from the town ready to
harm Atticus if he did not allow them to enter the jail, presumably to take and lynch
Tom Robinson, gave her a first glimpse at the evil that lies in the hearts of all men.
The outcome of the trial, which in her childhood wisdom she knew to be unfair, only
serves to further that loss of innocence and respect for humanity. However, she has
tempering influences as well. The scene when Atticus must kill the rabid dog, for
instance, reminds her that some things that may not be pleasant are necessary, but that
we must not hope or wish to be put into those situations. Boo Radley, as well, is an
influence on her. He also acts as is needed to protect the children, but he is a simple
man who has kept his own innocence through ignorance. It is these that provide her with
the wisdom that she needs to maintain her appreciation and respect for innocence and to
strive to teach those values to others through her narrative.