To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Analysis

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When you were young, did you think that the world was perfect? Did you think that people were tolerant of one another? Scout Finch did before reality dawned on her. Scout grew up over time, realizing from her experiences, including the major experience of the Tom Robinson trial. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the coming of age genre to show racism and morality through Scout’s eyes.
To begin with, Scout’s views on racism progressed from a false view of the world to a correct view. For example, after Cecil Jacobs started teasing Scout because her father, Atticus, was defending an African American, Scout asked Atticus if all lawyers defend them. Atticus responded, “‘Of course they do, Scout,’” (Lee 75), leading to Scout asking …show more content…

Lee used this to exhibit that Scout was living in her own world, unaware that people around her aren’t as respectful and tolerant of African Americans as her family. Scout is completely naive to the true amount of tolerance for black skinned people. But that changed after the Tom Robinson trial. As Tom Robinson was convicted by an all-white jury, the truth of racism dawns on Scout. After Tom Robinson was shot for trying to escape the prison camp he was in, Mr. Underwood released his editorial on the incidence. Scout then understood, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee 241). The implications within the article made Scout understand that white people, no matter how bad, dishonorable, and dishonest, always have more power over black people. Along with this, Scout became aware that the people of Maycomb seemed to barely care that Tom Robinson. After Dill explained to Scout what happened during their encounter with Helen, Scout noticed that they seemed to be some of the only people who actually cared about the issue. She felt that, “To Maycomb, Tom’s death was typical… Typical of a nigger’s mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw.” (Lee 240). She

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