How Does Lee Present The Change In To Kill A Mockingbird

Personal beliefs are shaped by perspective. In order to change someone’s opinion, their point of view has to be altered. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lee shows the change in Scout Finch’s beliefs as she matures and her perspective changes. We can see this when Scout evaluates Walter Cunningham’s different way of life at her supper table, when she starts to witness the social inequalities in Maycomb, Alabama during Tom Robinson's trial, and when she learned the truth about her childhood monster, Boo Radley.

While Walter Cunningham sat at the Finch’s table for Dinner, Scout, who had previously beat him up that day, was furious because he was the reason her teacher Miss Caroline punished her for the first time. Atticus Finch,

When Scout questioned Atticus on why he took the trial, Atticus mentioned, “...If I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” (Lee, page 100) Atticus took the trial because he believed it was the right thing to do. Since Scout had been going to school with the other kids from Maycomb Country, she heard many negative things about her father and obviously tries to stand up for him, making everyone believe that Atticus is a bad father because he didn’t view “niggers” as less important. As the kids witnessed the actual trial, they were able to realize that Tom Robinson was not guilty and they started to see more from Atticus’s perspective. Even though Tom Robinson was innocent, Bob Ewell, who was white, still won the case. This hit the Finch’s hard because even though they hated the racial discrimination occurring, there was nothing more that Atticus could do to change the ways of Maycomb. While all of this was going on, Scout’s perspective shifted more to her father's beliefs instead of joining the mainstream cowardness of her

Rumors embraced Jem, Scout and Dill as they acted out stories of Boo stabbing his father with scissors and imitated his sad, psychotic life. When the kids started to mature they received a sense of reality in Maycomb and how the citizens aren’t as innocent as they appear. While Scout and Jem began to realized this Jem stated, “...I think i'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed up in the house all this time … it’s because he wants to stay inside.” (Lee, page 304) When miss Maudie's house caught fire on the cold night, a blanket appeared over Jem and Scout while they sat in front of the Radley house. They later found out that Boo was the one who had placed it there. At this time the kids caught a glimpse of the kindness in Boo Radley that they had never believe would be there. At the end of the novel they saw more of this when Boo saved their lives. Scout realized that Boo Radley was not the monster that she once believed he