Coming Of Age Theme

` Personalities and ideas are shaped within and affected by the environment in which the person grows. It’s common for a person to ask a simple question such as “Where do you come from?” to get a basic understanding of the other’s personality. However, when being raised in a small town such as Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird, one could be easily be brought up into a hatred fueled life. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the author utilizes the theme of maturation throughout the novel to show the “coming of age” in the characters Scout and Jem as a result of the situations and experiences they are involved in. Growing up in the racially tensioned Maycomb County cause Jem and Scout to mature due to Scout’s bullying she receives at school, Jem’s development of empathy towards his father, and Scout’s experience of standing in Boo Radley’s shoes. While attending school, Scout’s fellow classmates both ridicule herself and her father, but Scout is forced to mature instead of fighting back. Shortly after the news surfaces of Atticus, Scout’s father, being the defendant of the African American Tom Robinson in a rape case, it spreads …show more content…
While preparing himself, Atticus is fully aware that this is one-hundred percent the most important case he will face in his career as a lawyer. In the midst of the anxiety latched onto his father, Jem notices changes to his personality while in the household. Although Scout thinks the case is insignificant, as she is too young to understand, Jem assures her that their father is going through a lot. “It’s this Tom Robinson case that’s worryin’ him to death-” (Lee 184). Applying the situation of the Tom Robinson case, Lee once again utilizes the theme of maturation on Jem as he grows empathy toward his father. In the same way, Scout is also forced to mature once again due to another event she