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Essay On Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Have you ever wondered what makes someone grow up? It seems to be the little things in life that really make children ponder about life’s choices. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout has many moments that help the young child realize the answers to life’s questions and what she is expected to become as she grows older. Harper Lee’s many literary devices used throughout the novel help build up to moments of coming of age for young Scout. From pages thirty to thirty-two, Scout learns a lot of new lessons that help her on her way to growing up. When reprimanded by her teacher, Miss Caroline, she chooses to take her anger out on what she thought was the source, Walter Cunningham. This innocent boy is the son of a father that hardly provides …show more content…

An example of characterization is, “Walter looked as if he had been raised on fish food: his eyes, as blue as Dill Harris’s, were red-rimmed and watery. There was no color in his face except at the tip of his nose, which was moistly pink.” (30). This quotation reminds Scout that Walter is a very deprived child, who is basically given just enough to survive. Even though Scout was just trying to help Miss Caroline understand what the Cunningham family’s situation was, she did not really realize how hard life must be for the young boy. In this moment, the narrator begins to realize that maybe she does not have it so hard and should appreciate the little things she is given in life. This characterization of the young Cunningham boy is just another moment that Scout is learning a life lesson and can understand things she had not been able to before. An example of indirect characterization is, “She was furious, and when she was furious Calpurnia’s grammar became erratic. When in tranquility, her grammar was as good as anybody’s in Maycomb.” (32). This helps explain that Calpurnia was extremely angry when she heard Scout asking why Walter was acting so strange. She was trying to teach the young child that you cannot judge someone just because they act differently than you. Everyone is raised differently and they cannot help if they tend to have strange habits. Calpurnia might have taken more …show more content…

Literary devices such as figurative language, characterization, and conflict are all major providers to this idea. Characters throughout the novel help young Scout understand ideas that she had never faced before, all introduced by these mechanisms. Without these, Lee would not have been able to display the coming of age in this section of the novel. Overall, Scout learned various important lessons that helped her grow up and learn about life problems she is faced with on a daily basis in

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