Essay Example on The Growth In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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The growth of the characters can be observed not just physically but mentally as well Atticus Finch a lawyer who has penetrating intelligence great wisdom and exemplary behavior plays a big role in teaching Jem and Scout lessons Jem and Scout are the protagonists that grow smarter and learn about the faults in our world as they transition into man and woman and lose their innocence Their change is evident because the tone of the book transitions The book begins with childhood foolishness and develops into a more adult seriousness Jeremy Finch Jem is the son of Atticus In the first part of the book Jem plays with Scout and Dill around Maycomb the town the story takes place and learns about Boo Radley Boo Radley is a recluse who never sets foot outside his house He was once an intelligent child but was damaged by his father Jem plays immature games such as trying to touch the Radley house I know what we are going to play Boo Radley Jem parceled out our roles Scout was Mrs Radley and all Scout had to do was come out and sweep the porch Dill was old Mr Radley he walked up and down the sidewalk and coughed when Jem spoke to him Jem naturally was Boo he went under the front steps and shrieked and howled from time to time 



Boo Radley dominates the mind of Jem letting his imagination run wild Boo s existence is proof of Jem s ignorance He can get out at night when we re all asleep Jem sees Boo as a creep judging him before even seeing him Jem s actions portray juvenility throughout this first portion of the book Throughout the novel Jem slowly realizes that not everyone is kind He loses his innocence when he sees the injustices in the world after the trial and starts to understand why things such as Tom Robinson's trial go so wrong He has grown up and from that he has taken with him important lessons He learns there are many different people in the world and a lot of them are stuck in their ways and cannot accept people that are different from them and that is why people discriminate against them Jean Louise Finch Scout is the daughter of Atticus Finch and the narrator of the story Scout follows the same childish behavior as Jem She is remarkably smart for her age She has an immense vocabulary that is portrayed through all aspects of the book For example Her teacher Miss Caroline is taken aback at her knowledge and insists she has to stop reading because the school is supposed to teach her those things 



This hits Scout hard as she loves reading and does not understand or think it is fair Her innocence is taken away when she realizes that not everything is fair and it will not be easy for her because she is a girl But even being smart intellectually she had much to learn about the real world Scout asks Calpurnia what s rape on page 125 and asks Atticus the same question on page 136 She learns about crimes in the world and sees her father address it in the courtroom Scout asking about rape demonstrates adolescence but as she learns this her childish innocence is lost Boo was our neighbor He gave us two soap dolls a broken watch and chain a pair of good luck pennies and our lives But neighbors give in return Whenever put back into the tree what we took out of it we had given him nothing and it made me sad Scout has outgrown her fear of Boo Radley she sees who he truly is and gains a new sense of maturity People in our world are also quick to judge other people without knowing who they are on the inside or their background Even so there is still hope because they can learn like Scout not to judge so quickly Maycomb has also changed with Jem and Scout Maycomb is introduced as a sleepy town but as the plot develops it s true colors are revealed The people of Maycomb have showed that they are not accepting As Tom Robinson goes to trial the town reveals it s hatred towards people 



The tow Atticus tells Jem that there have never been mobs or gangs in Maycomb In addition he states that the only time the Ku Klux Klan was present was in 1920 but they couldn t find anybody to scare so they quickly dispersed Ch 15 However immediately after making these statements Atticus must face a lynch mob They are there to persecute Atticus for defending a black man Scout sees this and helps diffuse the crowds anger The book even ends with violence when the town s most violent member Bob Ewell attacks Atticus's children with the intention of killing them Even through the violence in Maycomb there is still hope Miss Maudie shows this Hope is particularly expressed in Miss Maudie's comment to the children after the trial that Atticus is the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that Ch 22 she notes that the town is making a small step towards creating a more just society The town develops from a sleepy town to a violent one but some people still hold onto hope Throughout the story it is displayed that Jem and Scout have been exposed to the dangers of the world and have been removed from their childhood They will never be able to unsee the Tom Robinson trial so they must not forget it but learn from it They have grown from immaturity to sharp individuals Time shows that Jem Scout and Maycomb have changed for better or worse


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