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Coming-Of-Age In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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Since the first spark of human life, coming-of-age has even occurred at the time of Adam and Eve. Many people think that the only part of maturing is puberty. However, one of the greatest parts of growing up is not, surprisingly, going through puberty. Coming-of-age involves recognizing different perspectives. In the National Geographic article “Beautiful Brains” David Dobbs displays how gaining new perspectives during coming-of-age helps individuals to be smarter and more successful. According to Dobbs, “The period’s uniqueness rises from genes and developmental processes...producing a creature optimally primed to leave a safe home and move into unfamiliar territory.” Flexibility is mandatory in coming-of-age because different perspectives change risks taken. In addition, once an animal moves somewhere never before seen by themselves, then they are required to adapt to be able to survive in the conditions they are in. In conclusion, humans are the same as animals in the way they have to adapt and be flexible with their surroundings. Dobbs concludes that “if we smartened up sooner, we’d end up dumber.” Meaning that people would become dumber …show more content…

In the story, Lee shows how Scout is perceiving a different point of view: “I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle”(320). Seeing differences through other people’s perspectives is greatly needed to grow up. Scout had finally “stepped” into Boo’s shoes and had seen everything from Boo’s point of view. Scout points out that she is acting on the impression of Mr. Raymond: “Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too”(Lee 229). Scout realized from what Mr. Raymond and Atticus had told her that black folks get everything worse than white folks. Coming-of-age requires seeing problems through different

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