To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - jem scout and dills childhood

To Kill A Mockingbird.

The characters Dill, Scout, and Jem in the book “ To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee live a somewhat diverse childhood as they become aware of the prejudice in their hometown Maycomb and “learn to climb into other people’s skin and walk around in it”.

In the story the children behave as a child would at their time, but their childhood evolves from playful innocence to realizing the pressures of living in a timeframe where prejudice is all around them. Scout, a 6-year-old tom boy, Jem, Scout’s older brother, and Dill a friend, ignore the prejudice issues currently happening in Maycomb until Scout‘s father, Atticus, is assigned to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Before this incident the children grow unaware of Atticus’ role as their father and his role in the community. Even as Miss Maudie supports Atticus and tells Scout that “Atticus is someone who does other people‘s unpleasant jobs for them,” the children are not conscious of their own prejudist ways towards Boo Radley, a “malevolent phantom” that went outside at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows and when people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he breathed on them. At a point Dill is attracted by this monster to the degree where his curiosity cannot be satisfied and spreads among Scout and Jem.

As the children grow up, their view of the world around them is changed by the events that occur in Maycomb. Scout is teased at school because her father is defending a black person. Children at school call Atticus a “nigger-lover”. Scout does not think twice before beating anybody up and standing up for her father until Atticus asks Scout to ignore all the gossip about them and to “stop beating up kids at school.” Scout decides to listen to Atticus because Atticus rarely ever asked anything from them. This is when Scout starts to learn how to be a lady and Jem grows up to be a man. Aunt Alexandra’s stay with the Finch’s influences Scout and Jem to be well behaved people of their own fine breeding and higher social status.

Jem and Scout suffer a traumatic event that could have ended both of their lives. They were attacked by Bob Ewell, but were saved by Boo Radley when Boo killed Bob and carried Jem to the Finch house because Jem was unconscious and had a broken arm.