“‘You want to grow up to be a lady, don’t you?’ I said not particularly” (Lee). Jean Louise Finch is a tomboy growing up in a world where a girl is expected to become a lady. Submissive housewives and proper ladies were the expectations set for women in the time To Kill A Mockingbird took place. Scout Finch lived in a household that had a strong male influence; aside from Calpurnia, she had no real present example of what she was supposed to become. Because of this, Scout refused to conform to the ways of the rest of the women in Maycomb and the world (Lee 84).
First of all, Lee’s critical tone of prejudice is demonstrated by Scout’s innocent curiosity and perception of her surrounding society. Specifically, Lee’s critical tone is illustrated by Scout’s curiosity and the numerous questions she asks her family members throughout the duration of the novel. For example, when Scout raises questions to her Aunt Alexandra concerning her prejudice towards the Cunningham family, her innocence is exhibited by her desire to understand the world, but also to question it. A specific example of Scout’s curiosity is when Aunt Alexandra informs Scout not to invite Walter over for dinner, which leads Scout to ask “Why not, Aunty? They’re good folks” (223). Aunt Alexandra responds with: “The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem” (224). Aunt Alexandra’s response exemplifies her prejudice towards the structure of the social classes in Maycomb County. However, Scout’s innocent nature enables her to remain uncorrupted by prejudice and to question the unquestionable. Lee’s use of a child as a narrator allows her to ask the tough questions regarding Maycomb County’s way of life and question why it is prejudiced towards a certain individual or group of individuals. Moreover, Harper Lee’s choice of narration
Remember that in many ways To Kill a Mockingbird is Scout's way of looking back in time and remembering her childhood. The adult Scout is able to understand the impact of some of the events better than when she was a child living through them.
In the 1930s Southern Gothic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the child and adult perspectives of the narrator to tell the story from the perspective of an innocent child, then adding on to it using the adult perspective, which allows the readers to have a better understanding of events in the story. It allows the narrator to tell the story as they experienced it as a child, which gives the perspective of how they feel about the events. The child’s point of view also makes the novel fit for an older audience, because they most likely understand mature topics that the child narrator does not. Using the two perspectives of the main character, Lee allows the readers to relate to and comprehend the novel better.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set in a small Southern United States community called Maycomb during the Great Depression era. The whole book primarily revolves around segregation and racism and how it relates to Maycomb’s history. It eventually leads to the trial of Tom Robinson where he is accused of beating up and raping Mayella Ewell. Even though it was clear that Tom Robinson did not do anything wrong he was convicted by an all white jury simply because he was black. The trial of Tom Robinson and its verdict shows an example of how segregation in the court system prevents fair trials from occurring.
Harper Lee introduces Scout as an insensible tomboy caught in the midst of contrite prejudicial conception. She has not yet discovered what is right and wrong due to various misconceptions that the people of Maycomb
Harper Lee introduces Scout as an insensible tomboy caught in the midst of contrite prejudicial conception. She has not yet discovered what is right and wrong due to various misconceptions that the people of
The transition from innocence to experience is a major theme in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, The character of Scout, on particular, portrays this theme exceptionally well. At the beginning of the novel, Scout is an innocent, good-hearted five-year-old child who has no experience with the evils of the world, as the novel progresses, Scout has her first contact with evil and she begins to mature. By the end of the novel her persperctive on people changed from that of a child to that of a grown-up.
Throughout the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, the protagonist Scout finds herself discovering a different side to the town that she had grown up in. Her young view of the world allows her to notice fine details that adults would normally miss, such as the inequalities of segregation. Scout provides her recollection and accounts of the events that took place during her childhood. In many cases, Scouts youth would provide for an inaccurate telling of the events that had unfolded in Maycomb during her childhood, however her youthful innocence allows her to provide the readers with a clearer picture of the events and characters within the novel.
Everyone goes through a gradual change from youth to adult hood; growing up is an essential part of life. There comes a time in everyone’s life when this transition occurs. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch’s experiences lead her to the realization that she needs to mature and consider others prior to making a decision and acting upon it. Evidently, in the course of two and a half years, the 6-year-old transforms from an unruly and wild girl to a proper Southern lady of Maycomb. It is clear that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming of age novel by looking at Scout’s innocence and immaturity at the beginning of the novel, her challenges and struggles, and her eventual maturity toward the end of the novel.
Growing up isn’t easy. Scout of all people showed us this, as she regularly tackled the mysteries and difficulties a young life has to offer, in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Being a young child, finding your own path and becoming mature seems nearly impossible. What you are told is what you believe. Fortunately for Scout, she had influences such as Atticus, Calpurnia, and Jem to push her in the right direction, thus helping her reach a level of maturity that not many children had the ability to achieve. Likewise, Scout also managed to acquire a broader understanding of all things, especially as her naive opinions and suspicions of people were proven wrong more and more often. A crucial part of this story was focussed mainly on the
Last week Atticus Finch defended Tom Robinson in court against Bob and Mayella Ewell. The girl has said that Tom came into her room, beat her, and raped her. Tom gave a different point of view. His story depicts him walking passed the Ewell place when Mayella called him in to the fence, asking him to chop up a chifforobe for her. After he did, she asked him to help her get a nickel off the shelf, and when he stood on the chair to get it she grabbed him around the legs and tried to kiss him. Both sides only had one thing in common, the chifforobe that needed chopping. Judge Taylor and the jury heard two sides of the gruesome story while the rest of the courtroom listened from the benches. Mr. Finch took a hard loss on Tuesday, even though his
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.
Born in Monroeville, Alabama on April 28, 1926 Harper Lee is one of America’s beloved writers known for her award winning novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Her father Coleman lee and mother Frances Cunningham gave her the name Nelle, which was the name of her grandmothers spelled backwards. Lee’s mothers job was to be a stay home mother and her father was involved in law and later became a lawyer for Alabama state legislature. It was when she was in high school she developed the love for literature and when she later graduated she went to an all-female university, but then later transferred to University of Alabama, where she studied law. Lee wasn’t able to finish college because she made a decision to peruse her career as a professional
The chapters 1 and 2 of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the story begins at the beginning of summer, with the introduction of Scout and Jem two kids trying to enjoy to dog-days of summer in the plain and simple town of Maycomb. Their summer stays this way until they meet a boy by the name of Dill; Dill, Scout, and Jim play together by reenacting scenes from famous movies like Dracula. But when Dill hears about the legend of the Radley’s and there abandon estate, he becomes entranced with the Radley’s and wants to find out what really happened to Boo Radley. His interest in the Radley’s goes to such an extent that he dares Jem to get Boo Radley to leave his house by going on his property. After the deed was done summer winds down to an end as Dill leaves for Meridian, bored with nothing to look forward in summer Scout realizes that school is going to start. Jem starts to distance himself from Scout saying “Jem was careful to explain that during the school hour I was not to bother him”. Scouts starts to realize that school is different as she is punished for speaking out of turn and trying to explain why Walter cannot accept money from Miss Caroline. She takes this as an insult against Walter and punishes her, as it turns out school is a lot different than home.