In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the main character Scout faces many life changing experiences. Many of which have to do with gender, race, education, and social class. But throughout the novel you really see her grow up and mature. You see this through the people around her such as Cal, her experiences like visiting Cal's church, and the trial. In the beginning of the novel Scout and Cal didn't exactly see eye to eye. "Our battles were epic and one-sided. Calpurnia always one, mainly because Atticus always took her side" (pg) Scout thought that Cal favored Jem more and picks on her. When Walter Cunningham joins them for dinner Scout thinks what he does is odd. At this, Cal brings Scout aside and naggs about how it was mean and rude to
Scout Finch changes and grows significantly over the course of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. In the beginning of the novel, Scout is a young girl who hadn't thought much of the prejudice in the world and was quick to judge others. Throughout the novel she becomes more aware of the prejudice in her own community, more sympathetic and understanding of others, and learns to stick to her morals. These changes were largely influenced by her father's example, the trial he was a part of, and her experiences in school.
How Scout Develops from a Tomboy to a Young Lady in To Kill a Mockingbird
As people grow in life, they mature and change. In the novel , To Kill a Mockingbird ,by Harper Lee, Scout, the main character, matures as the book continues. Slowly but surely, Scout learns to control her explosive temper, to refrain from fistfights, and to respect Calpurnia, their maid, and to really learn her value to the family. Scout simply changes because she matures, and she also changes because Atticus, her father, asks her to.
A mother of a gay student that faced bullying stated in an article, that anyone who has “‘’hate in their hearts’” should accept people with differences because they are “‘going to be who they are’” (James, Boy Assaults Gay Student as Cellphone Captures Attack). In a perfect society, everyone would accept each other and not judge others based on appearance or social status. However, today many people still face the problem of acceptance. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, illustrates how others can learn to be accepting from the characters in the novel. Scout leaves her naïve childhood behind and changes to into an accepting young adult through
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch shows us various aspects of her personality, in her actions, thoughts, and words. Her home life affects this greatly as her father Atticus raised her with equality and a sense of freedom. Scout speaks her mind and does not confine to the standards of society at the time. Scouts intelligence is evident on her first day of school, when her teacher discovers her ability to read. Miss Caroline is off put as she was not expecting any of her students to be this advanced. Scout realizes this when “…she discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste.” (Pg.22) Her intelligence is also shown by her ability to realize when to use physical force in an argument,
From bothering the old man across the street, to heading into town without their father’s permission, they act as a children would. Suddenly their father becomes an attorney for an African American man and Scout has to quickly grow up for the sake of her father’s new case. Throughout the book there are a few key events sparking Scout’s growth of maturity. The protagonist Scout Finch changes throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by looking out for her brother, defending her father, and protecting her father from a mob.
We see Scout going from innocence to understanding her town. At the beginning of the book, Scout finds pleasure in the little things such as beating up Walter Cunningham and playing in the front yard with Jem and Dill. Scout once said, “ Catching Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard gave me some pleasure, but when I was rubbing his nose in the dirt Jem came by and told me to stop.” (Lee 30). This shows that Scout could’ve cared less about Walter’s lifestyle and what he goes through.
"Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more; 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. " (Lee, 85) Jean Louise Finch, known as Scout, stands out in the prim and proper southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Over the course of the novel, Scout's life experiences, good or bad, shape and mature her into a sophisticated young lady. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the first few lines of dialogue indicate that Scout is extremely intelligent.
Calpurnia helps Scout become more lady like by using manners and teaching her how to treat others. For example “ Yo folks might be better than the Cunninghams but it don’t count for nothing the way you're disgracing them” (Lee 33) Calpurnia teaches Scout proper manners when she corrects scout for thinking that she is better than Walter Cunningham. Calpurnia Also teaches scout to be respectful. For example “ There’s some folks who don't eat like us, she whispered fiercely, ‘ but you ain’t called on to contradict ‘em at the table when they don't. That boy’s yo’ comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the tablecloth you let him, you hear?” (Lee 31). Calpurnia is like a mother figure to Scout and Jem. She taught scout proper manners and how to treat others with respect. Without Calpurnia Scout wouldn't act very lady like. In the example this is scout’s first lesson on being respectful to others who are different. Therefore without Calpurnia Scout wouldn’t learn how to respect and sympathize with others who are
Maturity is not a quality you see everyday from children. Most of the time children are running around playing with friends and family, asking silly questions, and even fulfilling their imaginations. This is the case for Scout and Jem too, initially at least. Scout is the son of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama. Scout’s brother is Jem and they have a fairly close relationship. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Scout and Jem endure and encounter many life-changing events that cause them to mature, from experiencing racism and almost being killed to witnessing their father defend a black man accused of rape in the South during the early to mid 1900s. The theme of maturation significantly applies to the novel as Scout
Maturity is not when we start speaking big things, it is when we start understanding the small things” – Unknown author. This quote represents what scout has learned throughout the story of To Kill a Mockingbird. As readers, we notice Scout changes in several ways.she becomes more mature, understanding, and more respectful. Through out the story, Scout changes becoming more mature. Scout’s view of adults change dramatically.
One’s childhood innocence is never lost, it simply plants the seed for the flower of maturity to bloom. It seems that almost every adult chooses to either forget or ignore this childhood vulnerability. But ironically, it was this quality that pushed them into adulthood in the first place. At the peak of their childhood, their post climactic innocence allows room for the foundation of maturity to begin to grow. In the sleepy southern town of Maycomb this is exactly what happens to eight years old Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. In To Kill a Mockingbird the character Scout is forced to surround herself with a very adult situation, when a trial comes to the small town of Maycomb. The trial raises the question that shakes the entire town up, what
As people get older they go through experiences in their life that can change them in bad ways or most of the time change them in good ways.This good change occurs usually by the experiences teaching them important lessons they should know in life.These changes are very important in ones life because it matures them into an adult. This transformation happens to certain characters in every novel and it is called coming of age. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, both Jem and Scout go through this coming of age and learn what it means to be courageous, the unfairness of the world, and to look at other people's perspective before judging them.
Scout had many people in her life that tried to shape her into the perfect child that radiated femininity. Not only strangers or neighbors tried to make her change her ways but along with her family and surprisingly someone she treated like a best friend, her brother, she must have felt pressure to please everyone. One of the more prominent people who tried to mold Scout into another drone-like female back then was her teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher who thought that Scout being further educated than her class was almost a sin. Scout could read and write script while others her age could not and instead of being praised for an accomplishment, she was punished. The day a child is punished because she learned how to read before her teacher gave
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.