Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Jaylen Isidore Mrs. Andrews English 1 Apr 12, 2024 To Kill A Mockingbird Essay “I want to know why you brought white chillun to a n****r church”(Lee 135). To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a long story about two children and their experiences in the Deep South during the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, they experience different types of racism toward African Americans. They’re experiencing racism from a different perspective than others.Lee uses elements of the character, conflict, setting which highlights a coming of age moment for Scout and Jem. In Chapter 12, Scout was introduced to an African American church for the first time in her life. Once Scout arrives at the church, she feels like she belongs there. As Scout inches further and further into the church she starts to feel

Although Scout is uncomfortable with the place she is in, she still claims that, “It's a happy cemetery” (Lee 135). It's mighty weird for a cemetery to be called happy, even though there are dead bodies underneath where people stand. Then when Scout enters the church, she is seen by many friendly children, then she later gets a very weird and unknown smell of the church. Scout starts to describe the smell as “the bittersweet smell of clean Negro welcomed us as we entered the churchyard-Hearts of Love hairdressing mingled with asafoetida, snuff, Hoyt’s Cologne, Brown’s Mule, peppermint, and lilac talcum” (Lee 135). Thanks to Calpurnia, Scout now understands the difference between a white church and an African American church. Also, to Scout experiencing racial discrimination, Scout had an idea of Cal being “different” or having two different sides. “Calpurnia led a modest double life that never dawned on me. The idea that she had a separate existence outside of our household was a noble one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages” (Lee