When is it that you are mature enough to fully understand the world you live in? Most people usually answer the ages of 14-18. However, sometimes there are instances where young children are forced to grow up much more quickly than usual. One amazing example of this type of rapid maturity is in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, where the seven-year-old main character Jean Louise “Scout” Finch witnesses the unfair arrest, trial, and death of an African American field hand named Tom Robinson, set in 1930s rural Alabama. In this novel, Lee uses characterization and conflict to develop the theme that stereotypes and prejudice based on someone’s race and skin color are not only wrong, but can have dangerous, and sometimes fatal, detriments …show more content…
208-209). See the http://www.idl.org/idl.html>. This quote is long, but it is important because it shows that Mayella is being abused at home, and we know this because of how she changes her answer to protect her father after she notices his subtle cue of sitting up straight, and when Atticus gently suggests that Bob is abusive when he’s drinking, Mayella almost subconsciously nods to Atticus’s suggestion. This shows that Mayella is conflicted between the need to save her family’s image and most likely save herself from another beating, and the urge to tell the truth about how she feels, and what actually happens at home. There is also a much subtler quote that is equally as important, this is when Atticus says: “‘You say ‘he caught me and choked me and took advantage of me’ ---is that right?’ ‘That’s what I [Mayella] said.’ ‘Do you remember him beating you about the face?’ The witness hesitated. Lee, 210. This is equally as important because it shows that Mayella is conflicted between blaming Tom for injuries that she clearly sustained from Bob, which we know from Bob’s testimony from earlier, or just admitting that Bob had beaten her, which could cause her to be beaten