Character Analysis of Scout Nothing can stay gold, or good, forever. When applied to the idea of youthful innocence, it means that when people are in their childhood, they are pure and unblemished, not yet tainted by the cruel realities of life. However, nothing can remain unsullied. As they grow up, people tend to lose their goodness through experiences and their environment. They mature and lose the golden qualities that they had once possessed. This indeed is true when looking at Scout. Throughout the historical fiction book of To Kill a Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee, shows the drastic changes in Scout’s life. Scout, originally a naïve, reckless girl, becomes perplexed and shocked throughout her terrible experiences with her racist
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As a young girl, Scout does not yet know the world or her society well. On her first day of school, Scout “starts off on a wrong foot every way” (28) with Miss Caroline by insulting Walter publically without knowing. Scout’s careless action and inexperience causes her to have a bad reputation in school. Had her actions been more thoughtful, she would’ve been more successful at school. Furthermore, at the entrance of Dill, Boo Radley comes into Scout’s attention. Scout recounts how Boo Radley was a man accused of stabbing his father with a pair of scissors. People thought that Boo was crazy and avoided and spread rumors about him. In an innocent child’s perspective, Boo is nothing but a nightmare villain. Scout, having growing up in this environment, comes to believe Boo as a “malevolent phantom” (10) over six feet tall who eats cats and …show more content…
Instead, Scout transforms into a mature girl. On her way home from school, Scout nearly dies when an unknown assailant attacks her. As she ran away from the assailant she is again attacked when Boo Radley miraculously protects her. When Scout realizes who has saved her, her “[vision] blurred with [her] sudden tears. ‘Hey, Boo,’ [she] said” (362). With these words, Boo the childhood ghost becomes Boo the human being. This is the moment in which Scout takes the first great step in this section toward completing her character development and understanding the grown-up moral outlook that Atticus had shown her throughout the book. However, the fact that Boo murdered Bob Ewell still remains. While debating on what to do, Scout declares that exposing Boo to the public eye would be “sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird” (370), which is a quote that Atticus had once mentioned. Scout has adopted not only Atticus’s words but also his point of view, as she suddenly sees the world in Boo’s eyes. In this moment of recognition, Scout takes her second large step toward a grown-up moral perspective. The readers get a sense of idea here that Scout’s past experiences had led her to this uplifting moment that Scout will be able to grow up without her contacts with evil destroy her belief in justice and
As a young girl, Scout does not yet know the world or her society well. On her first day of school, Scout “starts off on a wrong foot every way” (28) with Miss Caroline by insulting Walter publically without knowing. Scout’s careless action and inexperience causes her to have a bad reputation in school. Had her actions been more thoughtful, she would’ve been more successful at school. Furthermore, at the entrance of Dill, Boo Radley comes into Scout’s attention. Scout recounts how Boo Radley was a man accused of stabbing his father with a pair of scissors. People thought that Boo was crazy and avoided and spread rumors about him. In an innocent child’s perspective, Boo is nothing but a nightmare villain. Scout, having growing up in this environment, comes to believe Boo as a “malevolent phantom” (10) over six feet tall who eats cats and …show more content…
Instead, Scout transforms into a mature girl. On her way home from school, Scout nearly dies when an unknown assailant attacks her. As she ran away from the assailant she is again attacked when Boo Radley miraculously protects her. When Scout realizes who has saved her, her “[vision] blurred with [her] sudden tears. ‘Hey, Boo,’ [she] said” (362). With these words, Boo the childhood ghost becomes Boo the human being. This is the moment in which Scout takes the first great step in this section toward completing her character development and understanding the grown-up moral outlook that Atticus had shown her throughout the book. However, the fact that Boo murdered Bob Ewell still remains. While debating on what to do, Scout declares that exposing Boo to the public eye would be “sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird” (370), which is a quote that Atticus had once mentioned. Scout has adopted not only Atticus’s words but also his point of view, as she suddenly sees the world in Boo’s eyes. In this moment of recognition, Scout takes her second large step toward a grown-up moral perspective. The readers get a sense of idea here that Scout’s past experiences had led her to this uplifting moment that Scout will be able to grow up without her contacts with evil destroy her belief in justice and