To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Analysis

No two people or groups are ever exactly the same. Experience is the only thing that truly reveals this lesson, and throughout this novel, the narrator, Scout, is exposed to this thought. Throughout her own experiences, Scout gains a better understanding of the world and the people in it, while also growing and maturing. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee implements characters, setting, and conflicts in order to magnify the significance of destroying innocence on coming of age. Lee uses Scout as the narrator to directly demonstrate the connection between the loss of innocence and coming of age. For instance, prior to Atticus’s announcement to Alexandra, Calpurnia, Miss Maudie, and Scout that Tom Robinson is deceased, the Maycomb

Miss Caroline instructed Scout to, ”tell [her] father not to teach [her] anymore,” confusing, as well as frustrating, Scout (23). Before this part in the story, Miss Caroline reveals that she is from the northern region of Alabama, and Scout acknowledges that their ways are particularly peculiar up there. As she puts together the pieces of the idea that not everyone is the same, Scout learns how different Miss Caroline is from everyone in Maycomb. Later, as Miss Caroline attempts to spot Walter Cunningham a quarter for lunch, she finds difficulty in getting Walter to accept the quarter, yet doesn’t know why. When Scout finally speaks up to clarify that, ”he is a Cunningham” and won’t be able to pay her back which is why he won’t take it, Miss Caroline just seems to have had enough of Scout already and completely rejects her efforts to be helpful (26). Knowing that Miss Caroline has not been in Maycomb long enough to be able to distinguish every family’s ways, Scout later empathizes with her, deciding to grow up and respect her teacher’s wishes. Once lunch begins, Scout chases down Walter and beats him up for, ”making [her] start off on the wrong foot” leading to Jem extending an invitation to Walter for dinner. Scout watches disgustedly as Walter drenches his dinner in syrup and questions it aloud, subsequently angering Calpurnia who soon summons her to the kitchen. She scolds Scout and tells her that she, ”might be better’n the Cunninghams but it don’t count for nothing the way [she’s] disgracing ‘em” (33). Calpurnia teaches Scout that it isn’t right to remark on other’s ways and to let her guests do what they want and make them feel comfortable. Walter was her company and she was making him feel bad. Here, she learns what is appropriate and with so much