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To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Quotes

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Everyone Grows Up Sometime: Coming of Age in To Kill a Mockingbird Prior to the spring break of my seventh grade year, I didn’t know how harsh the world could really be. I mean I knew about sickness, violence, death, all that good stuff, but I just sort of blew it off because nothing in my life had happened to where I needed to face those things. When I was 12 during spring break, I was as happy as any child would be on their spring vacation, but one day my parents pulled me and my brother aside and told us some pretty devastating news. They had told us that our grandfather had passed away in a house fire a few days ago. During that moment, I realized how much of an impact something like death could have on someone, and it made me realize that I had to mature faster than I had been. Just like I …show more content…

16). When Jem was young, he saw Boo Radley as this monstrous, savage, animalistic type character. Jem later recalls that he’s only met the man once when he was about the age of a toddler, so this just shows that Jem’s description of Boo is probably just his imagination. When Jem is older, he attends the Tom Robinson trial with Scout and Dill. At the end of the trial, Jem experiences a coming of age in that he now knows how adults function in the society in Maycomb. Before Jem knew the degree of how much everyone discriminated black people, he thought that Atticus was going to win the case. He even says, “Don’t fret, Reverend, we’ve won it,” (Lee, 1960, p. 212). After Tom Robinson is ruled guilty on the case, a crying Jem asks, “How could they do it, how could they?” (Lee, 1960, p. 216). The first quote shows that Jem thinks that Atticus clearly has more compelling evidence and doesn’t take into account that Tom Robinson is black and because of that, he’s going to lose the court case. The second quote shows that Jem now understands that Robinson lost the trial because he was black, but he still doesn’t know how

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“I don’t know but they did it, they’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it - seems that only children weep” (285). The quote just stated is saying, Jem was angry by the verdict, Atticus tells him that the people will continue to do it, more and more. Last, coming from the view of Atticus during the trial this is how he saw it. “Tom Robinson, a human being…

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Everyone goes through a period in their life where they are required to have responsibilities they are not prepared for. During To kill a mockingbird, Jem and Scout are beginning to see what the real world is like through their father’s eyes. The kids are starting to realize what they have to face when they reach the “outside world” such as segregation, racism, and differences. Atticus has to prepare them for what they have to face in the real world. Atticus has received a case to be a defense lawyer for a black man (Tom Robinson) accused of raping a young white woman (Mayella Ewell).

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After Atticus loses his trial, Jem notices that the Maycomb County justice system is broken and it needs help, “Then it all goes back to the jury, then. We oughta do away with juries. ”(294) This shows that Jem now understands that people are racist in everything and racism needs to be fought. On top of realizing that the justice system is in shambles, Jem realized that Tom Robinson’s case was very good at showing that.

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In Atticus’ closing argument, the prejudice against Tom Robinson is that he is black, and that any crime that he commits thus must be true, “ the evil assumption - that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings…” (Lee).This affects the possibility of Atticus proving Robinson not guilty because of the prejudice that everyone in the courtroom has against him. The case is revolving around that Tom Robinson is accused of beating and raping Mayella Ewell, the counterargument that Atticus presents shows that Mayella was beaten with the left hand, but Tom Robinson is only capable of using his right hand because his left hand was caught in a cotton gin completely disabling it. Atticus incorporates the use of both logical and emotional appeals in his speech to convince the courtroom that Robinson is not a guilty man. Atticus shoots all the evidence he has at the courtroom and tells them, “In the name of God, do your duty,” (Lee).

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In the timeless classic, To Kill A Mockingbird, a young girl, Scout, and her older brother, Jem, learn the true meaning of courage through a series of events that happen in their tired old town, Maycomb, Alabama. In Chapter 10, Harper Lee uses the killing of a mad dog to symbolize how Jem and Scouts ideas of courage change throughout their coming of age. In Chapter 10, Scout talks about how Atticus wouldn’t teach her and Jem how to shoot when they got their air rifles. Scout says that they had to turn to their Uncle Jack who, “...instructed [them] in the rudiments thereof, he said Atticus wasn’t interested in guns.”

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503 Words | 3 Pages

(Need a hook). The author uses of view of a child, Scout Finch, along with two other children, Jem Finch and Dill, to show the innocence of children is taken away from the coming of age. She uses a trial against a black man raping a white girl to show how children are innocent. Harper Lee uses life lessons to show that Scouts coming of age. Scout says, “Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in” (Lee 129).

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scouts changing perspective of Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley represents a coming of age moment because it demonstrates a breaking away from the childlike imagination that had previously explained all of their questions and superstitions about the Radley’s. A coming-of-age moment is the transition of thinking that occurs when someone learns empathy. At the start of the novel, in many situations, Scout and Jem demonstrate childish behavior and thinking when Jem is taunted into touching the side of the Radley home by Scout and Dill. The book reads, “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us” (18). From this portion of the novel we can tell that Jem and Scout clearly regarded the Radley home and its occupants with novelty and even fear.

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Maturing is something everyone goes through in life whether you go through it early or a little later in life. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows a lot about maturing. Growing up in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama where life was a lot more different from today, you mature much different and in different ways. Jem is one person who matures through the whole story and makes realizations about people around him, including his dad, Tom Robinson, and Mrs. Dubose. Jem goes into the story thinking his dad is just some old man but as he gets older, he realizes there is more to his dad.

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When one grows up, it is inevitable they will lose their innocence. Seeing the world through rose colored glasses can only take one so far, and eventually they will have to open their eyes to real issues in their lives. While this happens at different ages for everyone, Atticus in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee believes that his kids should not be sheltered from the real world. As Scout and Jem, Atticus’ children, grow up, especially in a time where Maycomb is so segregated, Atticus teaches his kids real life lessons and to not become like the rest of their town; racist and judgemental. This comes with a cost, however, as the kids “grow up” at an expedited rate.

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Jem, a young and smart boy develops and matures through many unique situations in the novel. Jem is exposed to the harsh belief, judgement and circumstances of the court at a very young age. Following his father, Jem involves himself in the trial between Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell yet takes Tom’s side due to his father's involvement. Jem slowly loses faith in the justice system and is faced with a loss of innocence as explained by Scout“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd.

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Through the stories of Tom Robinson's trial, Jem and Scouts journey to Calpurnia's church, and Mrs. Dubose's commentary to Jem, the theme of racism remains. For instance, in Tom Robinson's trial, the jury consisted of fellow townspeople who obviously had a racial opinion. Unfortunately, the people of the jury never accepted the words of a black man over a white man.. In fact, Atticus told his son that “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.”

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Scout starts maturing on early in the book and it can be argued that it’s thanks it to her father, You could really say it starts when scouts goes to school, or more exactly when she talks to Atticus about Miss. Caroline and how she won’t let Scout read. One quote I got from the text was “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” this shows how scout matures because here when she’s talking to her father she really listens to him and takes his words to heart. She realizes Miss.

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“To Kill a Mockingbird “is a coming of age novel. Discuss this statement, with reference to at least two characters. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” there is evidence of a coming of age story or lesson. Scout learns not to judge people and try and understand where they are coming from and to view a situation from their point of view.

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941 Words | 4 Pages

In the case that Atticus was defending, Tom Robinson, a black man, was accused for raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. When speaking to Atticus about the court case, Jem states that there should have been more evidence before deciding whether Tom Robinson was innocent or guilty. He said, “I mean before a man is sentenced to death for murder, say there should be one or two eyewitnesses. Someone should be able to say, ‘Yes, I was there and saw him pull the trigger’” (251).

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740 Words | 3 Pages

Jem further understood the true meaning of moral courage when he saw Atticus defending Tom Robinson, a black man. Although Atticus was hugely outnumbered and even cornered by Mr Cunningham and some other people, he did not back down from them. Instead, he seemed even more determined to win the case and prove Tom Robinson 's innocence to all of Maycomb County. Almost everyone in Maycomb County had criticised Atticus and his children for taking up the case of defending Tom Robinson and they were even called "nigger lovers" by many. At first, Jem did not understand why his father chose to defend Tom Robinson when he knew that people would whisper and gossip about it and that the possibility of him winning the case was very low.

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