“To Kill a Mockingbird “is a coming of age novel. Discuss this statement, with reference to at least two characters. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” there is evidence of a coming of age story or lesson. Scout learns not to judge people and try and understand where they are coming from and to view a situation from their point of view. In the beginning of the book in chapter 3 Scout is shouted on her first day of school for knowing how to read, and for trying to help Miss Caroline by explaining who Walter Cunning is and that she has shamed him. Atticus tells Scout that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around it. In the early chapters the kids are
Early in the book when Scout starts school she finds she does not like her teacher because her teacher does not believe Scout should be reading yet. Scout who has known how to read for a few years now finds this idea silly and decides to ask Atticus if she can stop going to school. Atticus tells her that if she can learn a little trick it will help her a lot in life he states “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39). This helps scout realize that even though she does not like her teacher’s thinking she can see the logic behind it if she looks at it from her point of view.
As people, we all develop and change as we age, and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" brilliantly captures this process. Scout Finch develops from a young girl who has faith in the goodness of others to a young lady who starts to recognize the harsh and unfair truths of life. I will examine Scout's maturation process in this essay. As the narrative progresses, Scout shows incredible growth as she learns to put others' viewpoints above her own. I believe this ultimately helps Scout develop her intellectual abilities, respect for others, social awareness, and emotional intelligence.
Kids experience coming of age to grasp lessons that will assist them when they are adults. There are countless coming-of-age moments in a child's life, which shape the way they view the world. In the book, Scout experiences various events that alter her viewpoint on the reality of the world, and the injustices in it. In the To Kill a Mockingbird passage in which Scout overhears the trial of Tom Robinson, author Harper Lee utilizes conflicts and plot events to help portray the theme that not everyone is treated equally. Harper Lee uses conflicts to establish the theme that certain individuals are not treated appropriately.
Everybody is given the stairs of maturity. The durability, the length, and the height of it vary from stairs to stairs. Unlike ordinary stairs, each step could take a day or years to climb up, and it is up to them if they will overcome it slowly, take a break, or come down with exhaustion. Though, how a person is able to climb up the stairs, isn’t random. It is dependent on their life experiences and the lessons from them.
Atticus is teaching Scout not to give up because she has had a bad experience and to be a law abiding citizen even if others do not follow the law. During school Ms. Caroline who is a school teacher tells Scout to stop reading. Ms. Caroline upsets Scout which is another reason Scout does not want to return to school. Atticus explains “ If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night..” (Lee 41).
Courage is not strength or skill, it’s simply standing up for what you believe in and what is right. This is the theme that was enrolled after Jem destroys Mrs.Dubose’s camellias and after she died in chapter 11. This passage also reveals Jem’s coming of age moment. After using conflict, symbolism, and point of view, Harper Lee was able to connect the theme with Jems coming of age moment.
Scout admits she feels fine and Atticus asks her what is wrong. She tells him that her teacher, Miss Caroline, says that they cannot read together anymore because she is too advanced for her age. Atticus responds with, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,”(Lee 39). Though Scout does not fully understand the concept of this lesson, it slowly comes to her as the book advances. She is able to make many connections using what Atticus taught her, and she truly understands the meaning of standing in another person’s shoes.
Maturing is something everyone goes through in life whether you go through it early or a little later in life. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows a lot about maturing. Growing up in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama where life was a lot more different from today, you mature much different and in different ways. Jem is one person who matures through the whole story and makes realizations about people around him, including his dad, Tom Robinson, and Mrs. Dubose. Jem goes into the story thinking his dad is just some old man but as he gets older, he realizes there is more to his dad.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scouts changing perspective of Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley represents a coming of age moment because it demonstrates a breaking away from the childlike imagination that had previously explained all of their questions and superstitions about the Radley’s. A coming-of-age moment is the transition of thinking that occurs when someone learns empathy. At the start of the novel, in many situations, Scout and Jem demonstrate childish behavior and thinking when Jem is taunted into touching the side of the Radley home by Scout and Dill. The book reads, “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us” (18). From this portion of the novel we can tell that Jem and Scout clearly regarded the Radley home and its occupants with novelty and even fear.
Children are very impressionable people. Almost everything around them changes them in some way. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters, Scout and Jem, start out as little kids who spend their days making up stories and playing sill games. Then their dad, who is a lawyer, takes on a case defending a black man who has been charged with rape. Since they live in Alabama, The whole family has to absorb some pretty ugly things, which forces Scout and Jem to grow up quickly, and it gives them a different and more mature view of the world.
Throughout the novel, Scout indicates change and maturity in her actions. She learns from Atticus to understand a person by considering their perspective. Furthermore, first day of school starts and Scout is already in trouble because she can read. Later that evening, Scout tells Atticus she is sick and cannot continue school anymore. He tells her that she is going and Scout tells him about the bad day and school.
Dhyanee Bhatt 9A Scout’s Development for Narration All of us grow, develop, and adapt to our surroundings according to what we see and learn. However, we don’t always only the just induce the positive values, but also adapt to the disadvantageous values, as well. To Kill a Mockingbird is a unique novel written by Harper Lee, which tells about a sophisticated family living in a small town. The focus of the book is Scout, the main character and an innocent child, and the story is presented from her perspective.
As verbalized by the diarist Anne Frank herself, “‘Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands’” (Goodreads 1). Coming of age is a process depicted through movies and novels through the Bildungsroman plot line. The protagonist, in this form of a plot line, has to face society and its difficulties. The protagonist inclines to have an emotional loss, which triggers the commencement of the journey itself.
She didn 't fully understand what was going on therefore can 't comprehend the miscarriages of justice. As she can 't fully compose adult commentary, the novel was shown in innocence. One advantage of reading this novel from Scout 's point of view is when she experiences something for the first time, so does the reader. Such as when she goes to Cal 's church and experiences the bitterness some black members have towards white members in
To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that takes place during the Great Depression in a small town located in southern Georgia in the 1930s. The book focuses on Jean Louise “Scout” and Jeremy Atticus “Jem” and their coming of age and the major events that made the two grow up. One of the events was the trial of the Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, in which their father, Atticus Finch, was defending Tom, a man of color. Mockingbirds are used throughout the book to represent people that were harmed by the society even though they were innocent. There is a common misinterpretation of the meaning behind the Mockingbird leading many to believe that Scout is the Mockingbird in the story.