‘To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel about growing up.’ Explore this statement about the novel by Harper Lee. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the theme of growing up is clearly seen through the protagonist Scout and her brother Jem Finch as they grow up and mature in 1930’s Alabama. There are many examples of Scout and Jem growing up in the novel. None more significant than Scout’s development from behaving like a tomboy to understanding the traditional values of Southern Womanhood, Scout’s rapid change in view of the town ‘villain’ Boo Radley and Jem’s maturation from a young mischievous boy to a mature young man. All of the changes combine to highlight the overall theme of growing up in both Jem and Scout throughout the
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Losing her mother at a young age and having only one sibling, an elder brother, Scout behaves differently to most girls around her age. She isn’t mature enough to decipher how she wants to act and is pressured by Jem to behave like a tomboy and not her true self. If she acts to feminine she runs the risk of being excluded from playing with him and Dill.
“Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home — I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!” With that, I had no option but to join them” (Lee, Pg 57)
As the novel progresses, pressure from Aunt Alexandria, a very traditional Southern Woman, and certain events going on in the novel for example the Tom Robinson trial starts to change Scout’s view on what being a woman is about. She sees women in a new light and Aunt Alexandria’s ability to still behave like a lady during the Tom Robinson trial, makes her realise women are just as strong as men. This is inspires her to follow Aunt Alexandria and behave like a mature young women and help her with the afternoon …show more content…
Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some. After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I” (Lee, Pg 262)
Scout displays that she has a new found ability to understand what being a woman is about, which highlights that she has grown up in the novel and doesn’t rebel against the traditional values of Southern Womanhood anymore.
Moreover, Scout not only grows up through her development into womanhood, but also in her change in viewpoint on the controversial character Boo Radley. At the beginning Scout views Boo Radley as some sort of fantasy, like a mythical creature almost. She does not have a very mature viewpoint on Boo, and is terrified by him, simply because of the stories and tales she had been told by Jem and the people of Maycomb. Her immaturity is highlighted when she says;
" Every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge…insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley’s insane fingers picking the wire to pieces” (Lee, Pg 61)
Overtime though, the events taking place around Maycomb seem to change Scout’s ideas of Boo, for example the Tom Robinson trial, where she begins to understand the whole Boo Radley situation more maturely. She now realises that what Jem, Dill and she did to Boo earlier in the novel was
Losing her mother at a young age and having only one sibling, an elder brother, Scout behaves differently to most girls around her age. She isn’t mature enough to decipher how she wants to act and is pressured by Jem to behave like a tomboy and not her true self. If she acts to feminine she runs the risk of being excluded from playing with him and Dill.
“Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home — I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!” With that, I had no option but to join them” (Lee, Pg 57)
As the novel progresses, pressure from Aunt Alexandria, a very traditional Southern Woman, and certain events going on in the novel for example the Tom Robinson trial starts to change Scout’s view on what being a woman is about. She sees women in a new light and Aunt Alexandria’s ability to still behave like a lady during the Tom Robinson trial, makes her realise women are just as strong as men. This is inspires her to follow Aunt Alexandria and behave like a mature young women and help her with the afternoon …show more content…
Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some. After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I” (Lee, Pg 262)
Scout displays that she has a new found ability to understand what being a woman is about, which highlights that she has grown up in the novel and doesn’t rebel against the traditional values of Southern Womanhood anymore.
Moreover, Scout not only grows up through her development into womanhood, but also in her change in viewpoint on the controversial character Boo Radley. At the beginning Scout views Boo Radley as some sort of fantasy, like a mythical creature almost. She does not have a very mature viewpoint on Boo, and is terrified by him, simply because of the stories and tales she had been told by Jem and the people of Maycomb. Her immaturity is highlighted when she says;
" Every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge…insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley’s insane fingers picking the wire to pieces” (Lee, Pg 61)
Overtime though, the events taking place around Maycomb seem to change Scout’s ideas of Boo, for example the Tom Robinson trial, where she begins to understand the whole Boo Radley situation more maturely. She now realises that what Jem, Dill and she did to Boo earlier in the novel was