Examples Of Growing Up In To Kill A Mockingbird

Ethan Bradford

Mr. Noreen

English 1/2

20 February 2023

Growing up in To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee has a very strong theme of growing up throughout the book. The theme follows heavily through Scout and Jem. The text that I used for the blackout poem was when Scout, Jem, and Dill intercept Atticus and the mob that's there to hurt him. I chose this part of the book because it has a crucial moment where Scout realizes what she has done on her own. This follows the theme of growing up which is used very heavily throughout this chosen text. Harper Lee uses the characters of Scout and Jem and their respective journeys to suggest that, in order to prepare for a broader world, it is necessary to lose innocence and gain

Since whenever she asks Atticus a question he responds with the truth no matter how bad the answer can be. Because of this Scout loses innocence throughout the novel as she grows up. An excellent example of this is when Jem, Scout, and Dill go to see what Atticus is up to. They find him at the jail confronted by a mob and Scout can't help it and runs to her dad. She ends up noticing one of them who is Mr. Cunningham and starts to talk about his personal life, which is a surprise to the other mob members. When she realizes this she thought “I was slowly drying up, wondering what idiocy I had committed.” This quote is very important because it shows how scout realizes her mistake without Atticus having to tell her otherwise. In other words, Scout loses innocence by knowing her mistake, of pointing someone out in a controversial way. Another quick example is when scout asks Atticus “what's rape?” In this case, Atticus tells scout the truth and scout loses innocence because of her

Jem is a very good example of this because throughout the story he becomes more of his own person and starts to do more things by himself. When Dill runs away from home Jem has to take care of him before Atticus finds out. In doing this Jem gains, in some sense, individuality. He says "You can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'." The reason this is a sign of Jem gaining individuality is he is starting to take responsibility by trying to talk some sense into Dill. This is different from the younger version of Jem where he would be happy and help Dill stay hidden. Scout also gains individuality a lot throughout the story. Even though she is usually with Jem or Atticus. After Tom Robinson was taken back to prison, he thought he would not be able to succeed in his second trial. He decided to climb the fence and was killed doing so. When Atticus heard about he thought he should tell his wife but before doing so he told his family. Aunt Alexandra had a tearful reaction to the news but kept her meeting with the other Maycomb ladies going. Because of this Scout thinks "After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.” This quote is a very specific moment to scout when she decides to help her aunt by being something she really doesn't like to do. But she believes in herself that she is a lady without the assistance of Aunt