To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Analysis

To Kill a Mockingbird: Life Lessons and Coming of Age

Imagine a sleepy Alabama town in the 1930s, where gossip spreads like wildfire and racism exists as deeply rooted as the oaks that line its streets. This town serves as the setting for the renowned bildungsroman novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which explores many themes that children face as they grow up. The story is told through the eyes of Scout, a six year-old girl. A prominent theme in the story is maturation, which occurs as Scout and her brother Jem learn to cope with racism, ignorance, and sexism in their town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Among the many lessons learned and conflicts faced in the novel, three in particular teach Scout about perspective, mercy,

This occurs after Scout’s first grade teacher offers money to a poor boy who cannot accept it. Scout complains that her teacher does not understand Maycomb’s ways until Atticus tells her, “You 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 30). From this, we can infer that Atticus can see other people’s perspectives unlike many people in Maycomb, and he wishes to pass this wisdom on to Scout and her brother. From this point on, the story shows how Scout matures as she takes this advice to heart. Years later, after viewing things literally and figuratively from Boo Radley’s point of view, Scout says, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 279). The evidence highlights Scout’s full comprehension of Atticus’s advice, and how it helped her understand even the oddest of people. This change is integral in Scout’s life as it shows that unlike most people in her town, she has learned Atticus’s ability to see things from multiple points of view. In the beginning of the book Scout cannot understand her teacher’s motivations, but by the end of the story Scout has matured enough to understand even Boo Radley’s

Their father Atticus is in charge of defending Tom, and as a result the children face disdain from their community in the weeks preceding the trial. After watching the trial for hours, Scout and Jem are convinced that their father will win the case and Tom will be freed. Once the verdict is announced however, they become distraught as they find out that Tom is convicted. Despite initial incredulity, the children later realize that so much hate in the South existed that Tom’s case would have never won. After reading an editorial on Tom, Scout realizes this by noting, “Then Mr. Underwood's meaning became clear: Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (Lee 241). We can interpret that reading the editorial shows Scout the cruel truth that the testimony of a white person had more weight than one of a black person despite overwhelming evidence. This realization shows Scout that her town is not as open minded and impartial as she had expected it to be. Not only does this event teach Scout about the absolute blindness and deep-rooted racism that existed, but it gives her perspective on the phrase, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90). Atticus says this to the children in the beginning in