When a difficult circumstance or situation you don’t understand crosses your path in life, how will you react? Will you come out learning something or will you stumble? Coming of age is something everyone will experience sooner or later. In Chapter 14 of To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses character, setting and conflict to develop the theme coming of age.
Characters in To Kill A Mockingbird grow in maturity to a great extent. For example, this particular scene shows how Jem was able to be the bigger person despite the altercation that had just occurred between him and his little sister. She says “He was tryin’ to tell me what to do. I don’t have to mind him now, do I?” “Night, Scout” Jem murmured while hostility was still lingering in the air. This scene also reveals that although Dill did runaway from home, he exemplified a great deal of responsibility by using his money to buy a ticket, ride the train
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When Dill arrives, the mood becomes very serious. Dill and Scout were shocked that Jem would tell on Dill. “Dill, I had to tell Atticus. You can’t run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin’ ” Jem had to stand his ground in the tense atmosphere and he was not afraid to do it. An immature, irresponsible teen wouldn’t have “snitched” on his friend, but Jem felt that it was the right thing to do.
The conflict contributed to how To Kill A Mockingbird got its theme. We see that after Scout was lectured by Jem, she attacks him. Scout explained “His maddening superiority was unbearable these days”. “Now I mean it Scout, you antagonize Aunty and I’ll— I’ll spank you!” is what Jem shouts that got her blood boiling.“ . A sensible or “of age” child would not become defensive when getting corrected. At this point she is not “of age” yet but we can see how she evolves from this point. If this conflict in the scene did not take place, we would not be able to see her growth towards the