Theme Of To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age

To Kill a Mockingbird is a household novel because of its themes that are relevant to the issues that children go through during their years of coming of age.

In this story, the main character, Scout, has emotional and physical experiences that people all around the world can relate to. Harper Lee establishes this connection using literary devices to convey themes. Through the use of literary elements in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that coming of age leads to seeing the world from a different perspective as people grow from experience. Lee’s use of setting, conflict, and dialogue in chapter 15 help to show that though she still has some innocence, Scout's experiences lead her to growing as a person. When the

Lee uses conflict to show that the issue being discussed at the courthouse is not something that a child should be witnessing. Bob Ewell explains, “Asked her if he beat her like that, she said yes he had. Asked her if he took advantage of her and she said yes he did” (231). The conflict between Bob Ewell is relating to matters that show that Scout’s innocence has been lost.The setting of the court house is presumed to be too mature for Scout. Scout retaliates to this by saying, “I most certainly do. I can understand anything you can” (231). By listening to the trial, Scout will lose the innocence of her childhood and will gain a better understanding of the world that she lives in. The dialogue between the people in the courthouse shows that as a result of this loss of innocence, Scout will see different perspectives that her childish self never revealed. The judge says, “Mr. Finch has no idea of scaring you, and if he did I am here to stop him” (240). The conversations had in the courtroom are very tense and help Scout to see the violence happening in the world. By Scout gaining this new perspective, she will have a loss of innocence that results in her

The conflict in chapter 1 shows us that Scout and her friends believe the assumptions about Boo Radley, which means that she has not established her own perspective at this time. On page 18, Dill says, “He’ll probably come out after you when he sees you in the yard, then Scout’n’ me’ll jump on him and hold him down till we can tell him we ain’t gonna hurt him.” This quote shows that the group of kids view Boo Radley as a threat at the beginning of the book because of the stories that they have heard. Lee uses characterization to show that Scout remains scared of Boo Radley despite his good deeds. In chapter 8, Jem says, “‘Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you.’ My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept towards me” (96). This quote shows that Scout's experiences reveal new truths to her that show her different sides of Boo Radleys story. Scout has a major shift in point of view from the beginning to the end of the book. On page 373, Scout realizes, “Boo was our neighbor…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.” This quote proves that Scouts thinking matured and she developed her own view about the community. Scout has major