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To Kill A Mockingbird Developmental Analysis

945 Words4 Pages

A child’s brain is like a sponge, they continuously aim to blend into the world around them and mimic their surroundings; which can assist them in developing their personalities. Children mature by socializing with their friends, vocalizing their thoughts and opinions and independently displaying good behaviour. According to Harvard, intercommunication between children and their progenitors and people in their neighbourhood forms the flourishing encephalon. Events in Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” causes Jem and Scout to experience developmental changes and mature. Scout and Jem pride themselves in testing boundaries and expressing their opinions. People and events in Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” cause Jem and Scout to experience developmental …show more content…

Jem and Scout’s father Atticus is a lawyer in their hometown of Maycomb County Alabama. Atticus’ ethical standards have a grand impact on Jem and Scout. Scout had a habit of using body language instead of verbal communication to portray her feelings and perspectives. After a fallout with her cousin and a classmate at school, Scout was approached by her father and was told how to psych her way out of fighting. “You just hold your head up high and keep those fists down. No matter what anyone says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change” (Lee 80). Atticus also taught Scout how to read from a young age. Every night before bed, Atticus and Scout would read a book and every time Scout would mispronounce a word, Atticus would help Scout get through it. This led Scout to be fully literate by the time she entered school. Once it became clear to Scout’s teacher that she was able to read, she ordered Scout to tell her father to stop teaching her how to read. Although Ms. Caroline’s decree had an impact on Scout who was afraid she was going to lose the ability to read “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing” (Lee 22) It did not have any influence on Atticus, or the way he taught his

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One of the many ways in which Atticus influences Scout is through the importance that he places on school education. When Scout discusses with Atticus about not going to school, his response shows the importance he places on education when he describes to Scout how she can get along better with people if she learned a simple trick. He says, “‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—’ ‘Sir?’ ‘—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’” He believes education is important because it can give valuable experiences, such as Scout's talk with Miss Caroline; from this interaction, she learns to see things from other people's points of view.

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Unfortunately, difficult childhood experiences still define adulthood even today. Harper Lee illustrates how childhoods are being shown as innocent, as well as how they can shape a person's future. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she describes how difficult childhood experiences shape the future of kids; in America today, progress has not been made. Childhood is described as a time when children are young, innocent, and filled with a lack of knowledge when they are being put into these situations. In this novel, Jem and Scout, Jem’s sister, go through many troubles finding the truth about their surrounding racial community to being more mature and grown up after watching a trial about an African American being accused of raping a white woman.

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From this advice Scout could understand why miss Caroline reacted the way she did by punishing Scout for being able to read by a method not of hers. Scout can utilize this “trick” as Atticus uses it throughout her entire life to better understand people. By the end of the book Scout could have used her father’s advice several times. One major occasion was to see why Mayella went with the story that Tom Robison raped her.

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Growing from a little toddler to a mature adult brings many changes. As a child grows, they begin to notice how the real world works, that life is not always fair, and that people are not always like they seem to be. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents Scout’s and Jem’s Coming of Age experience. She descriptively shows how there can be such change in a child.

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He tells her to use proper language, not to swear, and many other lessons to make her appear more respectable. He also helps her learn to understand others by looking through their eyes. At one point, Atticus asks Scout if she is ready to read, and Scout tries to convince Atticus that she is sick, so she will not have to go to school. Atticus figures she is making it up , so he tells her he will give her some medicine and she can go to bed and go to school the next day.

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To make sure to teach Scout in her own way, she tells Scout to make sure her father stops teaching her at home. To defend Atticus, on page 17, Scout told Miss Caroline, “Why, he’s too tired at night he just sits in the livingroom and reads.” This brings Miss Caroline off a tad, but on the same page she eventually finishes the conversation with “Your father does not know how to teach. You may have a

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743 Words | 3 Pages

Children are very impressionable people. Almost everything around them changes them in some way. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters, Scout and Jem, start out as little kids who spend their days making up stories and playing sill games. Then their dad, who is a lawyer, takes on a case defending a black man who has been charged with rape. Since they live in Alabama, The whole family has to absorb some pretty ugly things, which forces Scout and Jem to grow up quickly, and it gives them a different and more mature view of the world.

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Atticus is teaching Scout not to give up because she has had a bad experience and to be a law abiding citizen even if others do not follow the law. During school Ms. Caroline who is a school teacher tells Scout to stop reading. Ms. Caroline upsets Scout which is another reason Scout does not want to return to school. Atticus explains “ If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night..” (Lee 41).

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Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout share diverse interactions with the other people in Maycomb, that indicate children's evolving maturation. Harper Lee incorporates dialogue throughout the novel that shows the global issues of the 1930s. In the novel, Jem and Scout struggle to understand the social norms of the black population within the community. Beginning in innocence, the two mature through events in their life that build an understanding in a time full of prejudice and racial discrimination. Throughout numerous occasions, the kids are faced with the adversity of discrimination and resentment.

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The importance of this quote has to do with the fact that Jem and Scout got into an argument while Atticus was reading in the living room. Scout goes to Atticus seeking comfort and rather than dismissing the situation Atticus helps Scout understand it better and gives her advice. Atticus had the proper intelligence to assist the situation and help, whilst reading himself. Nobody likes small changes, especially Scout, but we all have to go through them. Scout had practically been reading by the time she was born, at least according to Jem.

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The teacher then says that she can not read anymore. Scout complains about this to her father and says she does not want to go to school anymore. Atticus compromises, “If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night”(41). This shows that not only he wants his child to go to school, but he also lets the child do what she is obligated to

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(107), Scout’s father, Atticus, teaches her that no matter what race you are, you should never be treated unequally. He demonstrates this in his everyday life so this idea is implemented in his children’s lives. He is respectful, responsible and intelligent which allows him to have a great perspective on the lives of others. It also is what aids him in raising his kids. Atticus

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Remember the days spent dancing with imaginary friends, tea parties with stuffed animals who could talk, then going to bed with the boogie man under the bed? The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about Jem and Scouts journey through their youth as they work to deal with tough subjects such as rape, racism, and the realization that the world is not how they once viewed it. Throughout the story, Lee demonstrates the loss of childhood innocence, which shows that one's true perspective of the world is obtained through maturity. To begin with, all children experience innocence in their youth, but as they grow up, their understanding of the real world betters.

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380 Words | 2 Pages

In the beginning of the book in chapter 3 Scout is shouted on her first day of school for knowing how to read, and for trying to help Miss Caroline by explaining who Walter Cunning is and that she has shamed him. Atticus tells Scout that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around it. In the early chapters the kids are

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Children go to school to gain knowledge, but life can give children the most important education. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem, and Scout are two growing children navigating life in the 1930’s in racist Alabama. They see racism throughout their town and have to navigate how they want to live their lives or follow their town. In their own school, they see racist people, and they often question what they hear, see, and learn.

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