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 prevails, racism, or the truth? And over the course of the novel the author shows how such events affect the way Scout grows over the course of the story. In the timeless novel To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee uses Scout’s incentives of purity and the quest for parental approval to stress the novel’s central thesis, the process of growing up.
Scout’s innocence and naivety push her to act the way she does, and also allow her to begin her own journey down the path to adulthood. Her immaturity becomes exceptionally clear in the middle of a neighborhood crisis. When her neighbor’s house catches on fire all Scout is worried about is retrieving a book because she is scared that her friend, Dill, will get mad if it burns in the fire. When she hears that her house might burn down her only words are, “That Tom Swift book, it ain’t mine, it’s Dill’s” (Lee 93). This quote shows her juvenility because when her whole house is threatened by a perilous fire she only says that she has to get Dill’s book. Such a...
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...s that she is capable of harnessing ideas that not even all adults can apply, as long as she has enough motivation. As a result, Atticus’ attention is enough drive for Scout to take a huge step forward. Just by trying to impress her father Scout learns a major lesson that allows her to mature.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird the moral of the novel, the process of growing up, is played up by connecting it to Scout’s motivations of childishness and the need for parental consent. Scout’s case is normal for a child on the verge of adolescence. By looking at a growing child’s example there is much to learn. Unfortunately, most adults try to forget their stage of innocence, act like they were never as vulnerable as a child. But the truth is, everyone can improve their outlook on life by just looking at someone like Scout, a child whose petals are starting to open.
The illusion of innocence is deeply instilled in the outlook of children. Reality soon takes its grip as kids begin to grow and mature, and they lose their pure qualities that they have once possessed. Their father Atticus shelters Jem and Scout from the town’s disease, teaching them the act of sympathy and how to distinguish the good aspects over glaring at the imperfections of people. The loss of innocence portrayed in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is exposed as the lives of Jem, Scout, and Dill go through their racist and prejudice society, learning how the worlds dreamlike qualities is nothing more than just a childhood fable. The children’s judgment of people and society quickly sheds as Lee displays the harsh realities to Jem, Dill,
Harper Lee uses Scout’s young minded perspective and willingness or lack of to learn and observe people's lives. Scout first learns from Atticus that she needs to walk in other people's shoes to understand their decisions and attitudes. “Jem stayed moody and silent for a week. As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem's skin and walk around.”(Lee, 77). In this passage Scout tries to use the advice Atticus has given her. She ends up not bothering Jem, which in turn strengthens her trust in her father's advice.
A child’s journey to adulthood will corrupt their innocence. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the two main characters Jem and Scout are forced to grow up and face the realities of their world as their father prepared for one of the most controversial cases in his career. As the trial date gets closer and closer, Jem and Scout witnessed negative and positive things caused by the folks of Maycomb, they were not prepared for. Through all the commotion Jem and Scout learned the importance of benevolence and courage as it influenced their changing perspective on the world. The qualities Jem and Scout learn from benevolence and courage change how they see their world by showing them fairness, kindness and bravery.
Childhood is a continuous time of learning, and of seeing mistakes and using them to change your perspectives. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how two children learn from people and their actions to respect everyone no matter what they might look like on the outside. To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story about two young kids named Scout and her older brother Jem Finch growing up in their small, racist town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the years go by they learn how their town and a lot of the people in it aren’t as perfect as they may have seemed before. When Jem and Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man in court, the town’s imperfections begin to show. A sour, little man named Bob Ewell even tries to kill Jem and Scout all because of the help Atticus gave to the black man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee illustrates the central theme that it is wrong to judge someone by their appearance on the outside, or belittle someone because they are different.
Scout is a young girl growing up in the south, she is intelligent, thoughtful, and good natured. Her identity is somewhat uncommon during the time she lives in. She is characterized as a tomboy, who doesn’t always act “lady like” or proper by southern standards. Scout most likely became the type of person she is by the care of her father, Atticus. He shapes her mind, while trying to protect her from a dangerous world and preserving her childhood.
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, the author, wrote about the journey of a little girl, named Scout, as she grows up. Scout’s father Atticus serves as a grand part of her aging because he teaches her many life lessons. The most significant of all the lessons and a pivotal moment in the novel occurs when Atticus tells Scout that “you never really a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them,”, which contributes to one of Scout’s intellectual changes and the theme, understanding requires time (Lee 372).
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells the story of the struggle of a white family facing discrimination for defending a black man. Scout and Jem are two young children living in Maycomb, believing that everyone is like their father, Atticus, who embodies justice and equality. Atticus takes on the case of defending Tom Robinson, a man who is being charged with raping a white woman.Before the trial, the Finches are forced to withstand torment from the townspeople. Their beliefs are shaken when a black man is given a rigged trial and he is innocent. In the end of the book, Scout and Jem are viciously assaulted by the accuser, Bob Ewell. The man that they had been so curious about, Boo Radley, comes to their rescue and saves them. Coming of age means growing up. Growing up involves maturely handling difficult situations and gaining wisdom from them. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows Jem and Scout coming of age through the events that force them to mature quickly.
Patrick Rothfuss stated, “When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, Lee shows that with age and experience, one attains comprehension of the harsh realities that surrounds them, realities that they have disregarded and overlooked for years. In Lee’s novel, Scout Finch is seen as an innocent little girl, uncorrupted by the racism and prejudice that surrounds her. Through her profound experiences with various individuals such as Miss Caroline, Walter Cunningham and Boo; her world expands to view the true nature of human beings, and to reassess the world she thought she knew with a new perception. Scout begins her journey as completely innocent to the world she lives in, to the commencement of realization of the reality around her, to finally achieving that wisdom and understanding she needs in order to mature.
A five year old is the epitome of innocence and naiveté. But as time progresses, this fragility is lost and children must learn gradually cope with the outside world and mature via gaining new experiences that grant them wisdom and knowledge. Three characters, Jem, Scout, and Dill in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee living during the Depression-era in Maycomb County, deal with the harsh reality of Maycomb’s racism and prejudice while maturing through gaining knowledge, experience, and courage. The kids grow up learning many lessons from Atticus or from their own experiences. In her depiction of Jem, Scout, and Dill, Lee reveals their maturation from being the children they are to having a thorough understanding of their society and the people within it.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main character and narrator, Scout Finch, embarks on her own adventure throughout her childhood years to learn more about the world around her as well as herself. As the novel progresses, she continues her process of coming of age as she faces troubles, explore new areas, and interacts with her community. On her journey Scout grows and matures, realizing who she is and how she feels about her place in the world. Harper Lee masterfully represents the challenges in the coming of age process through Scout. Thus, through transformative conflicts, symbolic setting, and a critical first person narration, Lee reveals how as one grows up, one must face the injustices and normalities
Through one's lifetime, many events occur that have an effect on their innocence and how they develop through their coming of age moments. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the author demonstrates the coming of age moments through the character's life as a child. Lee uses both charazation and conflict to establish the overall injustice of the justice system which influences to the coming of age moments.
As a result, this dramatic and deeply moving novel takes us into the world of Jem and Scout, in a journey that teaches both the characters and the readers about lessons in life that we witness everyday and learn from, growing and maturing, day by day. The main problems that were faced in the book were of: prejudice and hate, people judging others, and the inequality between the treatment of men and women. These are problems that are faced in places by people, everyday, even today, and together we must work to overcome these problems and unite, every person equal to any other.
...heme of maturation in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, is conveyed through the characters of Scout and Jem, in conjunction with the assistance of their virtuous father Atticus Finch. Early in the novel, Atticus ascertains himself as a major facilitator in the maturation process of Scout and Jem by incessantly providing mature solutions to his children’s predicaments. Moreover, Scout, a major benefactor of the Boo Radley incident and Atticus’ wisdom, has helped her develop into a very tolerant and mature individual. Undeniably, Jem’s remarkable development into a broadminded and compassionate character can be directly attributed to Atticus’ kindness and Jem’s exposure to the Tom Robinson trial. In synopsis, it is evident that the individuals and social circumstances that surround an individual play a major role in defining the type of individual one will become.
As a child grows, many people influence their development as a person. Some people impact more than others, and a select few really leave their mark. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” several characters play this role. Among them, Miss Maudie Atkinson, a woman who proves herself a strong character, prevails as the one who has the greatest impact on Scout Finch, the protagonist of this novel. As Scout matures and grows up, her views on the world around her change. Through subtle yet effective ways, Miss Maudie teaches Scout many life lessons about being humble, judging, and attitude, all of which ultimately have a great effect on the kind of person Scout develops into and her outlook on the world.
Harper Lee, used language features to explore the loss of innocence in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. The novel is narrated from a 6 year old’s perspective, Scout. As the story progressed, Scout matured and the language used and the thoughts portrayed throughout the book are more developed and advanced. The key theme displayed in this novel is loss of innocence and is explored through the following language features – Narrative Voice and Structure, Characterisation and Symbolism and Analogy. Lee’s personal style allowed the utilisation of these language features and through the exploration of loss of innocence.