To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Analysis

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Have you ever judged a book by it’s cover? In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee she introduces us to Scout family. Scout lives in Maycomb county, which is super small. Her big brother Jem and her father Atticus live with her. Atticus is a lawyer during the Jim Crow Laws and he helped stand up for the African American community. Scout tends to assume things about people she's doesn't know well. Scout is a curious person and she likes to know about all the things happening in Maycomb County. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she uses the literary element of character, conflict, symbol to support the scene Scout meeting Boo Radley and connect to a larger theme of coming of age.
To begin with, the first literary element is conflict. …show more content…

Before she met Boo, she thought the worse of him but she sees that there's no need to be afraid of him. She didn't know what he looked like and his personality because she lives in a small county where everyone knows everyone. In the novel, when Scout first saw Boo, it took her a moment to realize it was him because all she did was describe the clothes he was wearing, his frame, and how his face looked like. She states, “sand-stained khaki pants;... his eyes traveled up his thin frame to his torn denim shirt...his cheeks were thin to hollowness; his mouth was whole...his hair was dead and thin....and our neighbors image blur with my sudden tears” (Lee 362). This is important because Jem and Scout have been wondering how Boo looked, and Scout had a chance to see him and how and who he really is, Scout is emotional because she sees Boo Radley for the first time. She didn't know what to say but they both eased up a bit and she said “hey” to him.
Lastly, Harper Lee uses the literary element symbol the mockingbird to show its innocence. By this I mean you shouldn't harm or hurt the innocence that are not doing anything to bother or hurt. For example, in the novel it states ¨well, it'd be sort of like shootin a mockingbird, wouldn't it?(Lee 370). This is important because Boo has a mind of a child and Scout is realizing it. This shows coming of age because as Scout grows up she is realizing that