The way and rate that people mature at can be directly attributed to the values and beliefs of the society that surrounds an individual. It is undeniable that society’s perspective on many controversial issues will generally be adopted by the younger generations in a given society. Moreover, the exposure to significant events, coupled with the major influence of family members, can have an enormous impact on how an individual matures. Additionally, family members greatly help each other develop into moral adults by instilling in each other values that will ultimately determine an individual’s character. In Harper Lee’s timeless classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, the constant reiteration of Atticus Finch’s values, in
Everyday, people of all ages lose their innocence and develop morally through their daily experiences. Children deal with mishaps on the playground, conflicts with friends and family, and trouble in school. Similarly, Adults deal with conflicts within their own families, problems at work, and the loss of a loved one. In each situation, the person is learning important lessons that impact the way a person thinks, acts, approaches situations, and treats others. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem loses his innocence and grows morally through his daily experiences in three stages of understanding in Maycomb, Alabama.
Children sit in school for eight hours a day for at least twelve years in their lives, learning how to read and multiply. However, children learn the most important lessons in life outside of the classroom walls. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem discover powerful lessons about life through their father, Atticus, community and experiences. They view an unjust trial of a black man against a white woman, and find that the world is cruel and that they must treat all people with respect. They judged and bothered their neighbor Boo Radley, but he later saves the two of them. Through this, Scout understands not to make assumptions about people until she gets to know them. Also, through Scout’s experiences in school, she finds that
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.
Change is often viewed from a negative perspective but has positive results. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, some individuals embrace change while others deny it. Change, both personal and social, requires great courage.
"No matter who tries to teach you lessons about life, you won't understand it until you go through it on your own." Lessons are an important part of everyday life. They help people learn through tough times or teach them how to avoid terrible situations. Lessons can be passed down from adults to their children, or other important people in their lives. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout understands not everyone is fortunate, there is more than meets the eye, and that you can not trust rumors.
Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the narrator and protagonist, Scout, grows not only physically and emotionally as well. Through experience, Scout undergoes emotional change, taking her from her child self, to her more developed self. In addition, Scout learns through observing others and learning that they are not who she believes to be. And although a great deal of Scout’s development can be credited toward her superiors who directly teach her, it is Scout herself who truly discovers what maturity is, and how its relation to morality makes the world.
Anne Frank once said “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, it is a bildungsroman novel that follows Jem Finch as he grows up in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Over the course of several summers he, along with his sister Scout , face obstacles and challenges which consist of their mean old neighbor Ms.Dubose and the recluse Boo Radley. Although, in the beginning of the novel, Jem still is a child physically and mentally, and we witness him mature and grow up. We see Jem deal with problems that arise in a more mature manner. Lee shows that even someone as childish as Jem can grow up and learn to
Growing up is a difficult task, especially when the town around you doesn’t offer to help you understand what’s going on around you. Using many examples of the loss of childhood innocence, Harper Lee shows us that a corrupted society leads to growing up faster and one’s childhood is stripped away. Through Jem, the eldest of the Finch children, and Scout, the youngest, the readers see how a trial in 1930 Alabama takes a toll of young minds. In Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she implies that growing up leads to loss of innocence, especially in troubling times.
Eileen Kennedy-Moore once said, “the path of self discovery is a journey of discovery that is clear only in retrospect, and it’s rarely a straight line.” This quote can define Jeremy Atticus Finch’s experience throughout his time in Maycomb county in To Kill a Mockingbird as a child. I’m the story, Jem and his sister Scout are forced to grow up rather quickly as their father defends a colored man, Tom Robinson, of rape in which the town highly disagrees on. The town does not keep this feeling hidden. As the trial occurs it is clear that Tom is innocent and should be released. The opposite of this happens and Tom is concluded as guilty. Which leads to two highly upset children. Jeremy, who is referred to as Jem, begins as the average
In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the theme of innocence and growing up is central to the book. Lee conveys innocence as naïvety, as a narrow or restricted world view that expands as one grows older. Throughout the book, we see this theme develop alongside Scout, Jem, and Dill, who, as time goes on, transition from blindly accepting everything they experience from life in Maycomb, to being able to know what is right and wrong when they see it.
Maturity often goes hand in hand with change. Whether it is just growing up or learning from one’s mistakes, change brings new perspective that helps people for the better. The main characters in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird go through a series of such changes throughout the story such as losing their innocence, growing up, and coming to the realization of their town’s unfair prejudices. The transition from being innocent and oblivious to more mature and aware is extremely evident in several identities in the novel. The novel approaches the question of whether or not the people of Maycomb need some change and new perspective by dramatizing Scout, Jem, and Dill’s transition from a perspective of childhood innocence.
Growing up happens during the magical times of freedom given to children in their early years. Wise parents discern when freedom is necessary for their children, are very clear about their expectations, and determine fitting consequences for actions out of line. Harper Lee personifies this role of a wise and caring parent in the father figure of her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus Finch, a character made to mirror the author’s own father, is a lawyer and a well-respected citizen of his Southern Alabama town. Through Atticus, Harper Lee establishes a standard of good and evil, developing the theme of morality during his interactions. Atticus establishes right from wrong in most every relationship, especially with his children, his
As one grows older, he or she will eventually arrive to the same conclusion: life isn’t fair. In the outset of the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, six year old Scout Finch is an innocent girl growing up in the town of Maycomb, unaware of the unfairness within. In the 1930s in Alabama, where racism runs rampant, it is all the more controversial when her father pledges to defend a black man over a white one. She is forced to mature more quickly after his case as the consequences crash down. Throughout a four year span, Scout grows to be more mature and respectful, but less innocent in the harsh realities of her time.
One’s childhood innocence is never lost, it simply plants the seed for the flower of maturity to bloom. It seems that almost every adult chooses to either forget or ignore this childhood vulnerability. But ironically, it was this quality that pushed them into adulthood in the first place. At the peak of their childhood, their post climactic innocence allows room for the foundation of maturity to begin to grow. In the sleepy southern town of Maycomb this is exactly what happens to eight years old Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. In To Kill a Mockingbird the character Scout is forced to surround herself with a very adult situation, when a trial comes to the small town of Maycomb. The trial raises the question that shakes the entire town up, what