Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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.

Jem hasn’t gotten over the fact that the decision was so unfair. Jem exclaims to Atticus:”Doesn’t make it right’, said Jem … ‘You can’t convict a man on evidence like that you can’t “(252).

In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee, the author has used numerous different methods to portray the themes of innocence, maturity and growing up. These themes were put in so that the audience could become more empathetic towards the characters, especially the protagonists. She depicts these themes through characters, events, using symbolism, imagery and contrast located throughout the book.

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.

2. Scout, the narrator of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, matures throughout the novel due to the book taking place over time. “Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore and I was far too old and too big for such childish things and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everyone would be.” (Lee, 99). This displays that Scout is trying to be more

The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee has many aspects in coming of age. The passage where Tom Robinson’s trial has just ended and Jem takes it the hardest out of everyone and we see a different side of Jem shows literary elements. In this passage, literary elements introduces character, conflict, and setting. He comes to a realization or “coming of age”.

It's interesting to see the ways different authors depict how a character matures, a stage that many of us have been through. 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.

During this time, Atticus, who is a lawyer, takes on a very difficult case. He is defending Tom Robinson, who is an African American man being charged with raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. At the trial, Jem and Scout try to find seats, but they are all taken. Reverend Sykes, the reverend of the African American church, runs into Scout and Jem and tells them “There’s not a seat downstairs. Do you all reckon it’ll be alright if you all came to the balcony with me” (186)? The children happily take his offer and travel to the balcony where “Four negroes rose and gave them their front-row seats” (186). As time passes, Jem becomes very engaged in the trial. Scout says that “Jem seemed to be having a quiet fit. He was pounding the balcony rail softly, and once he whispered, “We’ve got him” (202). Jem is very confident that they have won the case, and thinks that Tom Robinson will not be convicted to be guilty. Later in the book, when they take a break from the trial, Jem excitingly goes up to Atticus and says “We’ve won, haven’t we?... You think they’ll acquit him that fast” (236)? Atticus starts to answer but abruptly stops and leaves. At this part, Atticus reacts towards Jem’s excitement and optimism. He knows that the odds of Tom Robinson not being guilty is very slim, but does not want Jem to be crushed. In conclusion, Jem does not fully comprehend the fact that the town is segregated and that Atticus will most likely not win the case.

In the first part of the novel, Scout began to learn about innocence. Soon, in the second part of the novel, Scout sees the injustices that changes the innocent. After watching Atticus defend Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout wondered why the jury decided Tom was guilty. Atticus, defeated, told them, “I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it — seems that only children weep” (215).

This is seen when Tom Robinson’s rape trial has ended and the jury is deliberating on his fate. Jem, a young boy ignorant of the evil and hatred existing in Maycomb, is confident that the jury will acquit Robinson, saying to Scout, ““He’s just gone over the evidence,” Jem whispered, “and we’re gonna win, Scout. I don’t see how we can’t.”” Yet Atticus, wiser to the maliciousness present in society, is far less optimistic. When Jem asks, “You think they’ll acquit him that fast?”, Atticus “[opens] his mouth to answer, but [shuts] it and [leaves Scout and Jem],” a clear sign that he doesn’t expect the jury to decide in favor of Tom Robinson. When the jury inevitably finds Robinson guilty, Jem is stunned and horrified. Lee writes, “[Jem’s] hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them,” showing that Jem views the ballots as horrific on a deeply personal level. This unpleasant surprise influences Jem to view Maycomb in a harsher, more bitter light. He says to Miss Maudie, “I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that’s what they seemed like,” showing his increasing disillusionment towards the town and its inhabitants. Yet Atticus, despite having witnessed those same events, is able to retain his faith in

Jem’s reaction to the results of the trial was one of the most powerful reactions of them all. Throughout the whole case Jem had hope that Tom will be found innocent so when he was announced as guilty he was stunned. Scout noted how each time the word “guilty” was spoken Jem reacted as if he was being stabbed. Jem later cries when they leave the courtroom, the

The Price of Growing Up Maturation can be considered one of the toughest stages of one’s life. Ignoring all of the physical changes that happen, one truly begins to realize their place in this world and what goes on around them. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that reveals the loss of innocence interwoven with a sense of maturity. Scout and Jem find their sense of belonging and maturity through people like Boo Radley and the Tom Robinson trial.

Maturation is an concept that all children endure at some point in their lives, but very few know the true explanation of it. Within To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem both encounter the struggle between purity and innocence within the town of Maycomb and the courageous acts of the town’s citizens. Through Mrs. Dubose’s revelations and Atticus’ wise words, Lee’s novel commends that the true meaning of growing up is looking through a person’s appearance and instead seeing them as who they truly are, within the heart. This recurring judgement of the world that society has made it out to be, blinds the children on what it means to be maturely grown and stops them from witnessing the true beauty it can be, all behind the charade of evil and bitterness.

Growing up is hard, but when you add scary houses, a pretentious aunt, and taunting children, life gets difficult. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird shows the theme of Innocence and Growing up through Scout, a six-year-old tomboy, as she encounters the hatred and prejudice events that occur in the deep south. Scout is forced to surround herself with an adult situation; the trial her father, Atticus took on.

"Remember it 's a sin to kill a mockingbird." This astonishing statement which Atticus had said it to his daughter scout in one of their boring days expresses the story of the innocent people that Harper Lee introduced in her wonderful novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, the sleepy town in the south of America, where poverty reaches most of the families from privilege families such as the Finches, to the African Americans such as the Robinson 's. In this novel, Harper Lee paints a vivid picture of how the bigotry and segregation was spread all over the Maycomb town in Alabama.