The Maturation of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird
The Maturation of Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird"
As people grow in life, they mature and change. The main character matures as the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, continues. Scout is childish and disrespectful at the beginning of the novel.
She is learning from her experiences throughout the novel. By the end of the novel she has come to have a strong concern for the feelings of others, and understanding the world around her. She learns this through her own experiences. Scout matured a lot throughout the novel.
Scout shows childish behavior at the beginning of the novel. She is disrespectful towards Calpurnia her maid. Scout suggests to Atticus to have her fired. “ ‘She likes Jem better’n she likes me, anyway,’ I concluded, and suggested that Atticus lose no time in packing her off.”(25). When Scout says this after Calpurnia punished her, it shows how inconsiderate and rude she was being toward Calpurnia. Also early in the novel Scout, Jem and Dill are afraid of Boo Radley, they think he is a monster and try to play tricks on him. They don’t know Boo Radley and have never seen him but still judge him on stories they have heard. They are threatened by him, and are scared to go on his property. This is very childlike. Scout also had the immature habit of getting into fistfights that started by the slightest provocation. When Jem had told Scout to stop beating on Walter Cunningham, he asked why she was fighting him in the first place all Scout had to say in response was “He didn’t have any lunch”(22) this shows she did not have good reason to be fighting him. Scout is very immature in these incidents in the novel
Scout is maturing more and learning from her experiences further into the novel. Scout, Jem and Dill are no longer interested in teasing Boo Radley, they have moved on to new interests. This is a sign of growth. Scout views on her father were changing. She used to think her father was different from the other fathers because he was older and couldn’t do anything. Then after Atticus shot the mad dog in one shot and Scout is told that he has the best shot in town, Scout is proud and influenced more by her...