How Does Scout Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel about two years of Scout’s childhood that is flashed back on by her older self. The setting of the story takes place in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during The Great Depression. The Finches are a small family, with Jean Louise Finch, also known as “Scout,” as the younger sibling, and Jeremy Atticus Finch, nicknamed Jem, as her older brother. Their father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer, is their only parent and tries his best to educate them for adulthood by teaching morals. Scout doesn’t think like the average seven year old; she’s confident and literally fights anyone that gets in her way, but throughout the story, Scout matures from her childhood innocence, her simple, trusting, naive ways by…show more content…
Atticus gets assigned a case by the government, without a choice to decline, and he knows that he won’t win because of the prejudice against blacks in Alabama during the time period. Unlike other lawyers in this situation, he takes the case and defends Tom Robinson just like he’d defend a white person, giving it his best effort. In the end, Scout realizes that it isn’t fair that Tom was convicted because all he ever did was good. Another awakening where Scout not only sees, but experiences unfairness, is when Uncle Jack punishes her without listening to her side of the story. Scout says, “You [Uncle Jack] never stopped to gimme a chance to tell you my side of it”(78). Uncle Jack never knew that she hit her cousin because he was calling Atticus a “...nigger-lover”(81). Then, when Scout’s teacher expresses her frustration with the way that Scout keeps sharing of all that she knows from her reading with her dad, Scout realizes that even her teacher isn’t always fair. She tells Scout that she is not allowed to read with her dad anymore because it is causing a disruption to her classroom. By learning that all people aren't fair, Scout loses her
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