Theme Of Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

Told in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee conveys the idea of perspective through the many hardships that the characters go through. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the mid 1930’s when the great depression is starting to hit. The story is told through our narrator Scout who is a little girl, who has a brother named Jem and their father, Atticus. Scout and Jem go through many significant events throughout their town of Maycomb, Alabama. In which most of these events are influenced by racism or even their prejudiced town. Through all of these events Scout and Jem learn to mature and learn about the harsh reality of their town. A central theme of this novel, To Kill

For example, chapter 9 of To Kill a Mockingbird paints a theme of adolescents maturing as they continue to learn about life. To explain, the conflict between Scout and Uncle Jack leads Scout into a coming-of-age experience when she learns more about the perspective of other people. Scout experiences this when she tells Uncle Jack, “You ain’t fair, you ain’t fair”... “You gonna give me a chance to tell you? I don’t mean to sass you, I’m just tryin’ to tell you.” (Lee, 97) This reveals Scout’s coming-of-age from learning and understanding other people’s different perspectives and how they view things. After her experience with Uncle Jack, Scout realizes that people can view things even if they don’t have the full story of what happened. For instance when Uncle Jack had spanked Scout without hearing the whole story Scout learns that uncle Jack had only spanked her because he was mad at her for saying bad words when he had specifically told her not to. Because of this he had cut her off and didn’t listen to her side of the story. Because of this it had opened Scouts eyes in which she became more conscious of other people's perspectives. After her coming-of-age experience, Scout became more aware of other people’s point of

For example, Jem grasps an understanding of the experiences and perspectives of Aurther Boo radley in Maycomb county. To explain, Jem begins to understand what it's like as an outsider and how he starts to empathize with Boo Radley when Jem said“ If there's just one kind of folk, why can't they get along with each other? If they’re all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand something. I think I’m Beginning to understand why Boo Radley stayed shut up in the house all this time. It’s because he wants to stay inside”(Lee, 259) This quotation demonstrates Jem’s growing empathy and understanding of the experiences of Boo Radley. Jem is starting to see things from Boo's perspective and is understanding why he wants to be hidden from the world. After his coming-of-age experience, Jem was able to gain a better understanding of the experiences and perspective of Aurther Boo