Children grow up using the people surrounding them as guides. If they are surrounded by people who tend to make bad decisions, they will in return will most likely make those choices. During the 1900s parents taught their children to think that they are better than African Americans. Even after slavery was gone, discrimination still existed. As children grow, they learn things about the world and go through many changes. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee supports a theme of coming of age through the actions of Scout and Jem. In this book, Scout is a young girl who is extremely influenced by the people surrounding her. During the time period this book was written, there was a lot of discrimination against African Americans. Being a child, Scout doesn’t understand the prejudice, but is still influenced. At the end of the book she begins to understand the world she lives in. “Mr. Underwood simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children…”(241) Scout becomes confused about why Mr. Underwood thought this way. She wonders why everyone else believed that Tom Robinson got what he deserved and Mr. …show more content…
Jem was also a child that changed in many ways throughout the story. One example would be when Jem starts to take care of Scout more. He starts changing into a big brother figure rather than a boy that Scout follows. “ My hand was going down on him when Jem spoke. Jem was scowling. It was probably part of the stage he was going through, and I wished he would hurry up and get through it.” (238) In this quote, Scout is about to kill a roly-poly. Jem stops her and shows that he has grown kinder. Most young boys wouldn’t hesitate to kill a bug. However, Jem shows that he knows that the bug is a living creature and shouldn’t be killed that easily. This would be another example of Jem growing