Adults essentially run the world. They make up juries, vote on their children's futures, and control every aspect of society. As a population, people believe that adults know more about the world than do children. However, children more easily take risks. They have the talent of quick wit, and in addition they are able to traverse the world with a much more open mind in comparison to their elders. Harper Lee, in To Kill a Mockingbird, also compares the worldly knowledge of children and adults. Adults may run the world in terms of overall control, but in terms of open mindedness and perspective, because of their unique qualities, children are the ones who know more about humanity. Many adults fall into the trap of narrow mindedness. They …show more content…
If one thinks back to their childhood, there are hundreds of risks that they took, such as skipping school, jumping off the high diving board, or sitting with different people at the lunch table. Adults aren’t as eager to take those types of risks. Especially in Maycomb, sitting with someone different at the lunch table is “[breaking] a rigid and time honored code of our society.” (272) “Someone different” in this case, would be someone of a different race or someone with less money. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout finds herself in the middle of a lynch mob. She doesn’t realize it at the time, but she ends up potentially saving Tom Robinson’s life. When Scout first steps into the middle of the mob, she thinks she is dealing with Atticus’ friends. She quickly realizes this wasn’t the case, but instead of running away, she takes the risk and continues to converse with the one man she was somewhat familiar with, because she believes that “there’s just one kind of folks.” Atticus later acknowledges Scout, and how “it took an eight year old child to bring ‘em to their senses.” (210) This scene is considered ironic in the way a little girl was able to break up a huge mob. Children aren’t expected to be so smart in their ways of the world, but Scout proves that she