Scout Finch, a once disorderly girl, changes a lot when her father, Atticus, takes the responsibility of defending a black man. Scout matures quickly when she is faced with discrimination and hatred towards her father. The atmosphere of discrimination in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee affects Scout, by creating a hostile environment that teaches her important lessons, forcing Scout to protect herself and her father, and learning that challenging the traditional way of life was not always wrong. It must have been a confusing time for Scout Growing up in Maycomb, because once her father took the role as an attorney for a black man, everything started to change. Their friends of the family constructed riots, and her classmates …show more content…
Aside from learning about her fellow citizens of Maycomb, Scout also had to start to protect herself, and her father from their neighbors and classmates. The atmosphere of discrimination towards the black defendant, and hatred towards their father, caused many uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous situations for the Finch Family. When Scout is confronted by her uncle Jack about a fight between Herself and her classmate, Scout responds “-tell you one thing right now, Uncle Jack, I’ll be-- I swear before God if I’ll sit there and let him say something about Atticus.” (114) This quote explains how she had to protect her father, and she could not just stand around and let him say malicious things about Atticus. Those actions were very brave of Scout, but she did not stop there. When a large riot came to get Atticus, Scout was timid at first, but once, she saw a familiar face, Mr.Cunningham, she realized they were just regular people just like her she remembered that “there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” (304) and used this opportunity to try to stop them. She walked up to him and started talking to him like it was a normal conversation, and that is all it took to save her father. Atticus later says “So it took an 8 year old child