Maturity is not a quality you see everyday from children. Most of the time children are running around playing with friends and family, asking silly questions, and even fulfilling their imaginations. This is the case for Scout and Jem too, initially at least. Scout is the son of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama. Scout’s brother is Jem and they have a fairly close relationship. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Scout and Jem endure and encounter many life-changing events that cause them to mature, from experiencing racism and almost being killed to witnessing their father defend a black man accused of rape in the South during the early to mid 1900s. The theme of maturation significantly applies to the novel as Scout …show more content…
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
As people grow in life, they mature and change. In the novel , To Kill a Mockingbird ,by Harper Lee, Scout, the main character, matures as the book continues. Slowly but surely, Scout learns to control her explosive temper, to refrain from fistfights, and to respect Calpurnia, their maid, and to really learn her value to the family. Scout simply changes because she matures, and she also changes because Atticus, her father, asks her to.
A mother of a gay student that faced bullying stated in an article, that anyone who has “‘’hate in their hearts’” should accept people with differences because they are “‘going to be who they are’” (James, Boy Assaults Gay Student as Cellphone Captures Attack). In a perfect society, everyone would accept each other and not judge others based on appearance or social status. However, today many people still face the problem of acceptance. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, illustrates how others can learn to be accepting from the characters in the novel. Scout leaves her naïve childhood behind and changes to into an accepting young adult through
As the novel progresses, both Jem and Scout are shown to mature, this is due to "To Kill A Mockingbird" being a bildungsroman novel. Through this coming of age process, we are actually shown Jem’s new found maturity enabling him to find empathy and acceptance regarding the Boo Radley myths, as he finally took his father’s advice to “climb into someone else’s skin and walk around in it” when he was explaining to Scout his epiphany that he “[is] beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut in his house all this time. It’s because he wants to stay inside.”
She would get a better understanding of this as the novel progresses. Scout also learns more about maturity when she experiences hypocrisy from her teacher, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-ju-dice,” She is contradicting herself, saying that it is acceptable to persecute blacks but not Jews. It dawned on Scout that people are hypocrites and have double standards when it suits them. The biggest step the children took towards growing up was during the Tom Robinson trials. There, the children received full exposure to the evils, malevolence, prejudice and sorrow of the cruel world as a white man accuses an innocent black man for raping when all Tom ever wanted to achieve was to help others. The children understood what was going on completely and was therefore changed because of it. At the unexpected climax of the novel, the children have an unpleasant encounter with Bob Ewell who wanted to take revenge on Atticus for humiliating him by killing his children. This was an absolutely outrageous act of insanity but also taught the children how dangerous reality could be, finalizing their journey into adulthood.
When you write about a family with two young children obviously you can expect ‘coming of age’ themes to be prevalent in the text. Scout Finch is not your average 10 year old girl, she is not afraid to voice her opinions with her actual voice and her fists. Atticus tells her that this trait is not very proper and she should consider other peoples views before concluding her own.
Leading the reader to the realisation that maturity is one theme the author wants to express, is the presentation of maturity in various shapes and forms. The way Scout describes Jem as “[someone who] had acquired a set of values” (Lee 153) implies the evolution which Jem was subjected to. As it is deductible by Jem’s reaction to the news of Mrs Dubose’s death, how “[he] buried his face in Atticus’s shirt” (Lee 148) and cried, the event impacted Jem enormously, which consequently is the reason of his sudden growth. Additionally, it is possible to see Jem maturing by him breaking “the remaining code of [Scout, Dill and Jem’s] childhood” (Lee 187) and telling Atticus about Dill running from his house. Also how he separates himself from Dill and
Scout rigorously was able to progress and mature, as well as adapt to new situations, visually changing her morals and outlook on her life. Scouts moral growth took off at the very beginning of the novel, early on during her issues at school with her teacher, Miss.Caroline. Scout professes her concern to Atticus on her learning, and her personal belief regarding Miss.Caroline's lack of teaching things of those similar to what Scout was learning at home. Scout felt although she was progressing more educationally at home when reading and writing with Atticus. After Scout talked to Atticus she truly realized Miss.Caroline’s point of view. In the text Atticus handled the situation with Scout by saying, “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view….until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39) Scout definitely was able to gain new insight from this experience and from talking with Atticus. Atticus was as well able to accommodate Scout in learning these new skills. Scout additionally accomplished moral growth in her experience bothering Boo Radley. Scout and her rather childish ways began back at the beginning of the book when Scout took interest in Boo Radley and his life. Scout, being intrusive and invasive at the beginning, took concern in his life, which soon she quickly learned was not proper. Atticus provided the following saying to teach Scout the importance of developing and maturing from her preprosperous ways. “Furthermore had it never occurred to us that the civil way
As people get older they go through experiences in their life that can change them in bad ways or most of the time change them in good ways.This good change occurs usually by the experiences teaching them important lessons they should know in life.These changes are very important in ones life because it matures them into an adult. This transformation happens to certain characters in every novel and it is called coming of age. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, both Jem and Scout go through this coming of age and learn what it means to be courageous, the unfairness of the world, and to look at other people's perspective before judging them.
“Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity. The measure of your maturity is how spiritual you become during the midst of your frustrations.” is a quote from Samuel Ullman. This describes the struggles that Jem went through by taking part in the community and trial and by also taking the risk of losing some of his friends and family in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. Through Jem’s interaction with the racism of Maycomb, he became aware of the things around him. We all learn that it takes a strong person to overcome the barriers of society.
Throughout the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, main characters, Scout and Jem, matured greatly. In the beginning they were both very innocent, but by the end, they came to a knowledgeable understanding of Maycomb and society. Though Jem and Scout both undergo pivotal moments, they affect them differently and both characters react in separate
As To Kill a Mockingbird progresses, Jem takes definitive steps toward maturity with his actions in the tire and flower incidents, for example. He would later go on to repair the flowerbed he destroyed, and take greater care to protect Scout. Through his actions, we can see Jem develop a sense of morals and responsibility that would prove to be a lifesaver.
Have you ever wondered how you got to where you are now and what the changing points in your life were? Well, in To Kill a Mockingbird, we see how Scout grows up and what her changing points were. We also see how Jem matures through Scout’s eyes. Through the duration of this novel, these kids go through something most kids never have to deal with. As the Great Depression is happening, the trial of Tom Robinson, and having been attacked by Bob Ewell, Scout and Jem have to mature and act more adult like to get through these points in their lives.
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.
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.
Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird Jem and Scout change tremendously. They do not change physically, but rather mentally. Their maturation can be seen as the novel progresses and by the end of the story they seem to be two completely different people. As the novel goes on, the reader can see that Jem and Scout mature even when the rest of the town does not.