How Does Scout Finch Change In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad” (Lee 373). To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story about the sleepy town of Maycomb. It takes place during a dark time for America, the Great Depression. The tale is told from the point of view of Scout Finch, a naive, young girl who matures throughout the book. Through her flashbacks, the reader discovers how Scout develops with Atticus’ guidance; as she learns how a mockingbird symbolizes innocence, the discrimination towards African Americans, and how empathy can change a person’s outlook

One day, her father, Atticus, told her brother, Jem, that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. This puzzled Scout, for her father had never said anything was a sin, so she asked Miss Maudie. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 119). This symbol of innocence is seen in Arthur “Boo” Radley, a misunderstood, awkward kid, Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape, and the kids, as they grow up and are exposed to inequality and

This changed when Atticus told her, “You can never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 39). When Scout becomes empathetic, she finds it easier to get along with people, easier to understand the situation. Finally, at the end of the book, she perceives Boo’s compassion: he saved Scout and Jem from the immoral act of Bob Ewell, he brought them gifts, he put a blanket over Scout when she was cold, he stitched up Jem’s pants. The small acts of kindness that once frightened her now gave her a sense of sentimentality.

Over the course of just a few years, Scout acquired empathy, lost innocence, and cruelty. Meeting Boo Radley and witnessing Tom Robinson’s trial helped her undergo multiple revelations. She learned that society wouldn’t accept certain differences, no matter how insignificant they should be. When she contemplated back to the time Atticus told her to be more empathetic, she learned that he was right. You can’t know someone until you stand in their shoes and walk around in