Growth And Development In To Kill A Mockingbird

It’s interesting to see the ways different authors depict how a character matures. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird we can easily see how she chose to do it. The novel is set in Alabama in the 1930’s, while black vs. white racism was a big issue and problem for many. Atticus is the father of Scout and Jem, young children who witness the discrimination first hand when their father, a white man, defends a black man in court. Lee does a great job developing the characters; especially the narrator, Jean Louise Finch (Scout). Scout’s thoughts, conversations, and actions, illustrate that she’s emotionally maturing from the innocent child that she was.

To mature is to grow up and understand the world around oneself. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character of Jem matures and learns many lessons from his father Atticus, neighbor Mrs Dubose, and the figure of Tom Robinson who help him to grow up. Over time, the reader sees Jem learn the life lessons of always doing the right thing, showing courage in the face of adversity, and learning that life is not always fair.

In part one, Jem gets mad at Mrs. Dubose and decides to kill some of her flowers. When Atticus finds out, he makes him read to the sick old woman on a regular basis until she passes on. Atticus tells Jem that she was addicted to morphine and she was very sick. Jem realizes that what he did is wrong. Maturation can even be seen here when he understands the situation Mrs. Dubose was in. Also in part one, Scout gets into several fights at school. Every time someone makes fun of her or someone in her family she beats them up. Atticus tells her it is wrong to solve her problems this way and to stop fighting no matter what someone says. She doesn’t listen until part two when she stops fighting people altogether. This shows tremendous maturation on her part because she has gotten past the childhood habit of fist fighting when she had a problem with someone. Both of these acts show the children’s progressive maturation.

“Human beings are poor examiners, subject to superstition, bias, prejudice, and a profound tendency to see what they want to see rather than what is really there” ~ Scott Peck. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird abounds with the injustice produced by social, gender, and racial prejudice. The setting of the book takes place in the 1930s, where racism is a big deal in society. In the novel Harper Lee uses a mockingbird as an analogy to the characters. The Mockingbird is a symbol for Three Characters in the book, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. The people of Maycomb only know Boo Radley and Tom Robinson by what others say about them. These Characters are then characterized by other people 's viewpoints. In the novel there are many themes that are adjacent to our lives, the one that is found in To Kill A Mockingbird is Human Conflict comes from the inability for one to understand another. “ You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (39)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has many ongoing themes such as Walking in Someone Else 's Shoes, Social Classes, Scout 's Maturity, and Boo Radley. These themes contribute to the story in many ways.

Their maturity comes with time, and it defines them as individuals and characters. Scout, the protagonist in this novel, matures the most, and she experiences all types of events that cause her to “come of age”. During the beginning of the novel, Scout is talking to Atticus, her father, about her first day of school. Scout had a rough first day and she dislike Miss Caroline, who was her first grade teacher. Atticus gave her a piece of advice, and he said, “ You never really understand a person until you consider things from his his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 39). Although this advice from Atticus to Scout did not cause a revelation right away, it really helped Scout in the long run. Atticus taught her not to write people off right away, and that you do not understand a person until you are placed in their exact situation. This significantly helped Scout mature, and it caused her to become a better person, who believes in racial equality and better moral standards. Specifically, this helped Scout mature in the end of the novel, when Boo Radley, her mysterious neighbor saves her and her brother Jem from Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell wanted revenge against Atticus for defending Tom Robinson and making him look bad in the process. Boo saving Scout and Jem, caused Scout to take Atticus’s advice to heart. Scout said, “ I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle… Atticus was right. One time he said you never really understand a person until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” ( Lee 373-374). This shows how Scout actually matured. She finally understood Boo Radley, and she realized that he was not a bad person. Scout found out that Boo cares and that he is not the awful person people think he is. Although he is mysterious, Scout is forever grateful to him

Based on the first six chapter of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we can see that it moves at a rapid pace. It starts off as the beginning of summer and by the end of the sixth chapter an entire year has passed by. Throughout this year, we see Scout 's, Dill 's, and Jem 's adventures during the summers and Scout going to school for the first time. We also receive some additional background information on the mysterious Arthur "Boo" Radley.

As baby steps transform into bounding leaps, one must understand how to lengthen their stride mentally as they do physically. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee eloquently describes Scout and Jem’s journeys over the course of a few years that, in turn, cause them to mature individually as well as a duo. Their progressions as characters allow the reader to label the novel as one of maturation. Numerous experiences contribute to their growth and understanding of the world around them. Along the way, Scout and Jem learn to put themselves in other people’s shoes, that one should never kill a mockingbird, and that an individual should continue to fight regardless if they know that they are destined to lose.

In To Kill a Mockingbird by harper Lee, The story of a southern life in Maycomb during the mid-1930s you begin an exploration of human morality. Each character has morals on how to treat some one of the other race. Atticus and Bob Ewell are two characters with contrasting morals. Tom Robertson an African American male is court between both of them and is dependent the towns social morals in a court case.

When many people are children, their parents, grandparents, or anyone who poses as a parental figure tell them that they will become more mature with age. However, psychological maturity is mainly learned rather than simply accompanying a person’s ascent into adulthood. Inevitably people grow, but this statement proves the experiences a person has in their life, whether good or bad, will change the path he or she takes while growing up or even continuing his or her adult life. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jean-Louise “Scout” and Jem Finch are six and ten in the beginning of the book, respectively. Although they gain only three years by the end of the novel, the children develop even more mature mindsets than many of the physically grown-up people in the town. Three events that prompt this early maturation are a conversation that takes place between Atticus and Scout, Tom Robinson’s death, and the ordeal with Mrs. Dubose.

The children in the book are maturing every day, like how Jem is learning not to be afraid anymore when in situations, he is maturing and learning to protect Scout when she is in danger. Scout is maturing because she is becoming more smarter and knows what is right and what is wrong. My claim would be Scout and Jem are growing older and starting to act more and more like an adult everyday. Scout never worried about Jem that much because she didn’t know that much when she was younger but know at her age she loves Jem and wants him to be save so she keeps asking “Is Jem dead?” on page 353-354.

We live in a society where African Americans used to be treated with no respect. What if you had to experience the same things that they dealt with? They faced racial discrimination and injustice in court. Mostly in the Jim Crow South, certain groups of white people during this time made it impossible for African Americans to receive justice. Even if they were innocent, blacks could be brutally punished and were subjugated by violence. In court whites would generally win even if they did not have any strong evidence to support their arguments. Especially in the south, during the 1930s, African Americans had little value and basically no legal status in society. They were meant to be treated like animals and, generally, many people believed that whites were always superior to blacks.

Scout was hit with reality when she was faced with Mrs. Dubose, a mean lady that lived right down the street, “[...]the business section of Maycomb drew us frequently up the street pass the real property of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose[...]. Previous minor encounters with her left me with no desire for more, but Jem said I had to grow up sometimes” (99). Growing up isn’t always a fun thing. You’re going to have to face reality and realize that not everything is always going to be easy and filled with hearts and flowers. Growing up is about having to face reality, no matter how scary, head on. You must gain knowledge based on the past and learn from it. Another disadvantage of growing up emotionally is realizing what you thought was bad, may be something normal that often happens every day. When Scout and Mr. Raymond were talking, Scout started to question why he would give out his secrets openly like that. He responded with, “‘Because you’re children and you can understand it” (201). He sees that children are innocent and they don’t know the harsh truth that lies upon them. For example, Dill was crying over the trial, believing that it was sick. He hasn’t yet to grow up, but Mr. Raymond tells Scout what Dill will face in the future, “‘Let him get a little older and he won’t get sick and cry. Maybe things’ll strike him as being--not quite right[...]” (201). Growing up, you’re not

Scout develops maturity in a way of empathy. She shows lack of respect and like insulting people when she doesn’t know what she is really doing. She is very rude and disrespectful to her maid, Calpurnia. Also, when Scout started school, she had conflicts with her teacher and her father, Atticus, tells her to get along with others. “You can learn a simple trick,Scout, you’ll get along with all kinds of folks.”pg.85-87 This quote is saying that Scout has to learn to respect others and good will happen. It means that you need to learn a certain skill and you aren’t just born naturally good. This matters because it is a crucial time in the novel where her father is teaching her respect. She starts developing empathy when we see her starting to walk away from fights and understands changes in Jem’s behavior. This is only the start of us seeing Scout mature but she experiences more and more and that helps her develop into an adult.

The text type of To Kill a Mockingbird is a fiction novel which deals with the racism the author observed as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, who wrote her novel in a retrospective point of view. There were numerous aspects of historical, personal, cultural and social context in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee was born on the 28th of April, 1926, in Monroeville Alabama. Monroeville was a close-knit community that has many similarities with Maycomb, which is the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s father was a prominent lawyer, whom she drew inspiration for the protagonists father, Atticus Finch. Among Lee’s childhood friends was Truman Capote, from whom she drew inspiration to the character Dill. These personal details help portray Harper Lee’s own childhood home, where racism and segregation was highly evident. Another example of context which helped shape To Kill a Mockingbird were the events that occurred during Harper Lee’s childhood. In 1931, when Harper Lee was five years old, nine African-American men were accused of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama. After a series of lengthy, highly publicised, and often bitter trials, five of the nine men were sentenced to long term imprisonment. Many prominent lawyers and various members of the general public saw the sentences as spurious and believed that it was motivated by racial prejudice.