Character Analysis Of Scout In Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

It is the question of what does it means to be a lady. Scout finds it hard to do the things that a lady would do because she is a tomboy. Her brother sometimes criticizes her for acting like a girl, on the other hand at times he complains that she's not girly enough. Dill wants to marry her, but he doesn't mean that he wants to spend time with her. Lots of the boys at school are intimidated by her strength, even though she is told that she must learn to handle herself in a ladylike way. Strangely enough, the women that come in and out of her life have harder requirements on her than the men do. Scout being a tomboy drives Aunt Alexandra to be distracted. Miss Caroline sees Scout's outspokenness and honesty as rudeness. funnily enough, the person she want’s to please most is the least concerned about her acting in a certain way. She tells Jem, "'I asked him if I was a problem and he said not much of one, at most one he could always figure out, and not to worry my head a second about botherin' him.'" In the end, when she explains why the sheriff could not charge Boo with Bob Ewell's murder, she becomes the kind of person who makes her father extremely

On her very first day of school, Scout had been condemned by her teacher for already knowing how to read. Miss Caroline, Scout's teacher, had told her: "Now tell your father not to teach you anymore" (17). Scout took Miss Caroline's words to heart and thought that if she continued to go to school, she would have to give up her nightly reading sessions with Atticus. Scout advised Atticus: "But if I keep on goin' to school, we can't ever read anymore..."(31). This shows Scout's naivety as she focused and was fixated on such a small detail that other people wouldn't give a second thought about. Scout was willing to obediently listen to anything Miss Caroline told her as if it was the law. Unexposed to the evils in the world, Scout was so innocent and naïve, and therefore, she did not realize or even think of going against what Miss Caroline had instructed. Being naïve on the fact that not everyone in the world is always truthful and follows all the rules, Scout was infatuated on a moot

As Scout begins to consider people?s opinions about prejudicial behavior she soon feels obligated to understand these racial judgments. Scout, being the curious and forthright girl she is, feels that only way to do so is by interrogating these estimations. ?As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem?s skin and walk around in it? (57). At this specific point in the novel, it is clear that Scout has learned a valuable lesson. The social lesson accomplished is never to judge anyone before determining their past experiences or hardships. Not only Scout?s social well-being, but her mental and emotional well-being progress extensively throughout the events of the novel. This is clearly defined by the following quote. ?Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore, I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold it in, the better off everybody would be?(74). The quote stated by Scout proves that she is willing to mature at such a crucial time as the trial. She discovers that it is more important for Atticus to

As scout is getting older she is learning more about what the town is like. She becomes aware of the things she’s done and the effects it has had on her and others around. This quote on page 278 shows her understanding starting to change.

Scout tries to resist her community’s attempts to shape her into a ‘proper’ young lady in several different ways.

Scout is willing to take the responsibility for things that mattered to her and to her family and that is a result of her courageous character. She simply wants to defend everyone fairly just like her father Atticus.

Scout is very innocent and doesn’t really have a side of her that is racist. She is just a kid and unlike others in her town she hasn’t really developed a sense of hate for people. When very racist things happen, she knows they are bad, but has a very innocent point of view that doesn’t hate on things. Lastly, she doesn’t understand all that happens in Maycomb. She often responds to things like fights.

At the beginning of the novel, Scout is only six years old. With her being so young, she is still learning and making up her own mind about topics, such as segregation. Segregation played a large role in society as Scout and Jem were growing up. Blacks were frowned upon and lied about. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout is exposed to the unfair treatment of blacks.

In the beginning of the book Scout is 5 years old and has very little exposure and sympathy towards people different from her. For example, Scout and her brother Jem are extremely judgmental towards Arthur “Boo” Radley. They call him “About six and a half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw and any cats he could catch, That’s why his hands were bloodstained” (16). This truly gruesome quote is a terrible thing to assume when they have clearly not met Boo.

Scout is innocent as a child is innocent. We can see her ignorant actions every time we turn a page. She acts and says without thinking about the consequences that she must face afterward. For example, when Scout tries to explain to her teacher that she is embarrassing Walter by giving him something that he might not be able to repay. Scout forgets the fact that her teacher is new and wouldn’t know about the Cunninghams. Her straightforward has made her teacher mistook her for being disrespectful and punished her. Or that time when Scout questioning what her father do-agreed to defend a black man. She doesn’t truly understand the reason why her friends or her cousin call her father a “nigger-lover”. She knows it is an insult,

By Miss. Caroline's actions Scout learned not to believe everything she hears which would in turn help her tolerate the towns racism. Scouts high level of respect for Jem, and Atticus creates this scene where she is subconsciously defending her family's pride. Scout without even knowing it is putting her opinions out there which signifies that she is coming of age, and is now able to filter out the information given to her. Scout is now prepared to stand up for herself and make better decisions.

This carries over to their own adulthood when they try to remember back to any event. Many years had passed before Scout was even able to talk about what had happened in her childhood. In the beginning of the story she even says, “When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading up to his accident” (Lee 3). Instead of focusing on the part about the “accident”, Jem breaking his arm, Scout talks about the events leading up to it. She emphasizes more parts than others because parts in her mind stick out more than the rest. Therefore, Scout is an untrustworthy character because of her inability to convey her whole story evenly.

Atticus quotes, “I just hope Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough.” (Lee 88). Although at the time, Scout may not have understood his message, it soon becomes clear to her that she should not trust the opinions of the people in her town. In her town, the people don’t always treat everyone right or the same, they see people of a different race as bad, and think that gives them a reason to treat they badly.

Despite the early introduction to this lesson, Scout doesn’t fully understand it, or at least learn it, until the very last chapter when she finally meets Boo Radley, and stands on his porch thinking about the compilation of events which make up the book, from Boo’s point of view, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” This shows the understanding Scout has finally had of the way people are perceived and the way they actually are. It shows that she has learnt what many

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is one of the main characters and the narrator. During the time the book begins, she is a little 6 year-old girl who is mature for her age, and she continues to mature as the book progresses. Over the course of the novel, Scout develops an exceptional character which is constantly changing from the effects of different events and characters. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses the minor characters Boo Radley, Miss Maudie, and Aunt Alexandra to help develop Scout into a strong and compassionate human being from the innocent child she used to be.