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How Does Lee Present Scout's Childhood In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Recommended: Boo radley characterization to kill a mockingbird pg 10-12

“The innocence of children is what makes them stand out, as a shining example to the rest of mankind” - Kurt Chambers. Likewise, In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, the narrator Jean Louise Finch, formerly known as “Scout’’ narrates her childhood experiences in an innocent kid's perspective. She begins retelling the story from the age of five and as a result the narrative voice used in the story is very naive. As Scout sees the injustices in her community occur, she uses the limited amount of knowledge she has of the world, her life experiences and her father's teachings/morals to fill in the blanks and try to understand the events that are taking place.It is evident that Scout is at too young of an age to fully comprehend racism and it’s impact on society. Though Scout is intelligent enough to see the cruelness of people and is confident enough to defend herself and …show more content…

This was because of all the deranged stories and rumors she had heard about him. For instance she was told that Boo Radley had stabbed his father in the knee with a scissor when he was just a child. Upon hearing all these tales Scout began to use her own imagination to figure out what Boo Radley looked like in person. "Every night-sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified threefold; every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us; insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley’s insane fingers picking the wire to pieces; the chinaberry trees were malignant, hovering, alive”.(Lee). This specific quote makes it clear that Scout, like numerous other children, has an imagination beyond that of an adult. Scout imagines Boo Radley with insanely large fingers which may not be what a mature person would think. Harper Lee effectively shows Scout’s young tone of voice in

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Within chapter one, Lee included plenty of foreshadowing for the other chapters. For one, Scout describes the story of Boo Radley heavily, which was a major part of Scout, Jem, and Dill’s childhood. The insight Scout provides to Boo characterizes him as a fearful villain, who “dined on raw squirrels and any cats he couldn’t catch.” (14) However, this later proves to be

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1621 Words | 7 Pages

1) Briefly describe the examples that Lee uses in this chapter to show Scout’s continuing character development. What does each example illustrate about Scout? There are two main examples that Lee uses in this chapter to show Scout’s continuing character development. One is a minor one involving Boo Radley, and the other is a major one involving justice. In this chapter, Scout realizes what a bother she was to Boo, and uses simple to logic to make the assumption that Boo is still alive because he is not carried out yet.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee as the novel progresses Scout’s innocence is gradually evaporating. Scout is losing her innocence of a child from being exposed to the “real world” and experiencing the prejudice ness of others. At the beginning of the novel Scout is a young girl who has never faced the “evil” of the world. Maycomb county Alabama during the Great depression is extremely racially prejudiced. Scout encounters the evil of society when Atticus takes on the case of Tom Robinson.

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Although Boo Radley is a mystery in the community, he is the reason behind many of the life lessons Scout learns. Atticus tells Scout and Jem the day they go shooting their guns “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Though this sounds like advice a parent might give their young children. I believe it was a direct reference to Boo Radley in hopes to teach them a lesson. Boo Radley was an innocent and harmless man accused of crimes he didn’t commit.

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1258 Words | 6 Pages

When readers are first introduced to Boo Radley, Jem describes him by saying; “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, [...] There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 11). Although Boo Radley is considered strange to the kids, he ended up truly caring about Scout and Jem. Later in the novel, when Scout reminisces about what she and her brother found in the oak tree from Boo Radley, she says, “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

While Scout is saying this, she is talking to a group of men who are trying to kill Tom Robinson. This shows that even though this almost death scene is right in front of her, she doesn’t know what is happening is just trying to calm down the mood of everyone, and return the human to people but later realizes, when she is older, that she

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642 Words | 3 Pages

Boo has helped Scout change her viewpoint from thinking that he’s a scary person who always stays inside to finding out that he actually cares about her and chooses to live inside because he prefers to stay where he can observe what’s going on in the town and protect people when needed, which helps teach Scout that you can’t assume things without knowing the facts. Scout starts out believing that Boo is a mean person who is out to her her and she quickly learns that Boo’s intentions aren’t to hurt her, but rather help her when she needs it most. For example, in the beginning of the book Scout was scared of Boo Radley and the Radley house as shown, “I ran by the Radley house as fast as I could, not stopping till I reached our porch”(Lee 44).

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Scout demonstrates the idea that adversity does strengthen an individual by learning how to take her life situations, furthermore turn them into positive outcomes, resulting in her building an emotional wall in order to prevent her past from breaking her down, leading her to show the world that she is transitioning into a mature, young woman. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise Finch (Scout Finch) becomes exhibited to adversity in her early childhood. Scout begins by having an arduous time trying to be herself without facing the wrath of people narking on her about the way she dresses as well as the way she acts. Without a mother figure present in her life, the only way she feels like herself is by doing what she knows best, acting as well as dressing like a boy.

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768 Words | 4 Pages

When you are younger, you are innocent and believe that the world is good and no harm can come to you or the people you know. That is false. The world is a cruel place where innocence is something that can be taken away easily through bad deeds and the witnessing of them. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the book takes place in Maycomb County, a town where racial injustice and poverty exist.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. ”(279). Scout uses her imagination to try and view all the past events that have occurred through Boo’s eyes. When she does this she realizes that Boo isn’t a bad person at all, he is actually kind of like a guardian angel. Boo Radley’s character proves a great point that we should never judge or assume things about another person that we know nothing

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864 Words | 4 Pages

Scout looks up to Jem, greatly values his opinion on many different topics and trusts him completely. She follows his lead on may things such as when Atticus enquire about the nature of a game they are playing which depicts Boo Radley , “ Jems evasion told me our game was a secret so I kept quiet.” (Page 45) Jem in turn enjoys spending time with her and adores her.

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557 Words | 3 Pages

However In Chapter 31 Scout begins to take the time to see things in Boo Radley’s perspective for instance when scout made a remark at the end of the book “ you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee ). This expression is really true empathy. Because as she standing on Boo Radley’s porch Scout starts feeling compassion for him. Scout is really able to see Boo as a human rather than an awkward neighborhood.

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Many people forget the simplistic and common values that their child selves once held; values such as innocence and bliss, which children have always had since humans have walked the Earth. Their inability to see the harsher side of life has inspired many tales and exciting adventures from their point of view, which always adds an interesting way of thinking about the world. People so often lose this innocence that they fail to see and admire some of the things only kids can see. This much and more is most certainly true of Jean Louise Finch, the narrator and main character of Harper Lee’s famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Jean Louise, also known as Scout in the story, has many admirable qualities as a kid because she has the ability to think beyond herself and shows courage to the people around her.

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531 Words | 3 Pages

Scout changed a lot over the course of this story. She was exposed to many events that led to her gradually changing her way of life. She doesn’t change as much as Jem does or as fast as him, but she still changes. She learns to mature, understand things better, and treat people with respect.

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986 Words | 4 Pages

2.3 Sociological perspective: Macionis (), analyzed that sociology is efficient study of human society. Society refers to public who live in a defined region and share a way of existence. Sociology’s analysis of society is a special point of view called a sociological perspective. To define the sociological perspective there is an additional way to define that is considering the general in the particular. It tells that that sociologist look for common pattern in particular human’s behavior.

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