“Once you start asking questions, innocence is gone,” said Mary Astor, once one begins to wonder about the world around them, they begin to lose innocence. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an example of a coming of age novel. Scout develops socially throughout the novel from naive to a more understanding Scout. In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is naive child in the town of Maycomb. Lee demonstrates Scout’s wonder of the world around her by introducing Dill. Dill is from Meridian, but he is in Maycomb for the summer to stay with his Aunt Rachel. Since Scout is young and unsophisticated, she begins to ask about Dill’s unmentioned father, “... I asked Dill where his father was: “You ain’t said anything about him.” “I haven’t got one.” “Is he dead?” “No…” “Then if he’s not dead you’ve got one, haven’t you?” Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush…”(8). Scout did not understand how someone could not …show more content…
The silver saucer clattered when he replaced the pitcher, and he quickly put his hands in his lap. Then he ducked his head. Atticus shook his head at me again. “But he’s gone and drowned his dinner in syrup,” I protested. “He’s poured it all over-” It was then that Calpurnia requested my presence in the kitchen”(24). Calpurnia pulled Scout into the kitchen and began to tell her that she must respect guests no matter what because everyone deserves respect regardless of who they are. Scout understands that there are stereotypes of the town and the families have their own label. She does not think that she needs to respect someone who would be considered “beneath ” her. She uses the excuse of, “... he’s just a Cunningham-”(24) to try and reason that he is not as good as her so she does not need to respect him. Scout is callow because she does not think that people who are different from her deserve her respect and she does not need to be nice to them. Scout learns from these events and allow her to become more interpret in the town of