Greta Thunberg once said, “Being young is a great advantage since we see the world from a new perspective and we are not afraid to make radical changes.” The open-mindedness of young individuals helps them to see the world and accept new ideas and social changes when an adult may not due to their previous experiences and biases. Unfortunately, younger people do not have as much knowledge or experience in the world, so they may not understand the importance or significance of some events. Throughout the events of the Historical Fiction novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the narrator Scout is a young, white girl living in Alabama with her family during the Great Depression and Jim Crow era. Harper Lee paints the picture of a typical southern town during this time, full of racial tension that was heightened due to the Great Depression and rigid social norms. …show more content…
Firstly, with Scout’s young age comes innocence, which clouds the reader’s ability to understand the consequences of serious events. When Mr. Finch goes to defend Tom Robinson from a potential threat at the jail, the children follow him and find Atticus facing a lynch mob. During this heightened tension, Scout starts up a conversation with Mr. Cunningham, and after everyone goes quiet, she states, “I was slowly drying up, wondering what idiocy I had committed. Entailments seemed all right enough for living room talk.‘What’s the matter?” I asked” (176). Scout thinking an organized murder was a ‘living room talk’ between her father and some farmers shows her innocence. Scout’s casual manner causes the reader to underestimate the severity of the