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Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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In Harper Lee’s unforgettable novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”,she utilizes literary elements to create a coming of age theme. The book is about a young girl named Jean also nicknamed Scout. Her and her older brother, Jem, explored Maycomb ,but had a underlining meaning of coming of age. Harper Lee uses point of view, symbolism, and characterization to empathize the oppression and racism of the time period.
Jem comes across as tough and brave and his character acts more mature, but he has a scene that makes him seem soft-hearted. Jem and Scout watch a roly-poly when scout tries to poke it and Jem gets infuriated,”Because they don’t bother you...Reckon you’re at the stage now where you don’t kill flies and mosquitoes now, I reckon.” (Lee 238) This shows Jem’s character …show more content…

Scout’s character also develops because it shows her rude nature which has been shown multiple times before, but adds on to them. This key moment for Jem and Scout represents characterization by showing the progress of the both of them,
Point of View was another key literary element for Lee. She used point of view to convey why Scout doesn't quite understand Jem’s outlook on life. Scout has no understanding of why
Jem defended the bug,”Aw dry up... Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I” (Lee 238-239) This shows Scout didn’t know what Jem is thinking, so she assumes that he

is just like her. She thinks he’s becoming a girl, but in reality, he has just seen more of the world.
Lee uses point of view to further the scene.
Lee uses symbolism to show innocence in the novel. The roly-poly scene part creates bigger picture because of the use of symbolism. Scout started messing around with a bug when
Jem started to speak,”I lay on my stomach, reached down and poked him. He rolled up. Then, feeling safe, I suppose, he slowly unrolled. He traveled a few inches on his hundred legs and

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