Importance Of Childhood In To Kill A Mockingbird

The adult world is a frightening and complicated place. It is an ugly place full of torture, wars, and so much more. If I was given a chance to go back to childhood, I would certainly go back. Childhood is the most precious time in one’s life when valuable memories are made and shapes you into who you will become. It is the time when you are mindless, lacking in responsibility, and innocent. This is shown in the little town of Maycomb where Jean Louise (Scout) Finch and Jeremy Atticus (Jem) Finch grew up. Scout, as seen in the novel, is a very mindless child who is not bothered by other people’s opinions. She wore overalls and played with the boys in the neighbourhood. Her family wanted her to appear more feminine so they pointed out that

This is something that you lose as you grow up and gain experience. Scout is still in that precious time in her life when she is unaware of the bad things in this world. In the novel, Scout protected Atticus and Tom Robinson at the jailhouse by her innocence. She had no idea that the men around her father were planning on harming him. She softened their hearts by talking to Mr. Cunningham about his son. She simply made the mob realize that they were all neighbours in one town and “made Walter Cunningham stand in [Atticus’] shoes for a minute” (Lee 210). One other example from the book is when Dill asked Scout to marry her in the beginning of Chapter 5. He asked her because he loved Scout and she was one of the only few girls he knew. This demonstrates innocence because Dill forgot about their marriage almost right after he asked her. Scout and Dill are too young to understand what marriage and love is, so they only pretended because they wanted to feel older. The thing I miss most about childhood is choosing friends based on their personality and who they are as a person. I miss being able to be friends with someone just because we clicked. Now, friendships are formed based on status, popularity and what you can get from that person. Especially in high school, status is extremely important, so everyone tries to get into that “popular” friend group just to fit