In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch lives in a sheltered home, protected by her brother, father, and housekeeper. This solitary lifestyle leads to her unintentional insensitivity to others. However, as the story unwinds, poverty and inequality grow evident to Scout her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. Although she begins the novel as a naïve young girl, unable to apprehend the effects of poverty and segregation, Scout ultimately develops into a more sensitive individual.
Throughout the beginning of the novel, Scout exhibits her indifference multiple times. Scout first meets poverty when faced with the poor Cunninghams. After being scolded by the teacher for attempting to explain the Cunningham’s financial …show more content…
She first exhibits this maturity while passing by the Radley house on her way back from school. When thinking of Boo, Scout recalls she sometimes felt “a twinge of remorse” in the partaking of “what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley” (324). She proceeds to question, “What reasonable recluse wants children peeping through his shutters, delivering greeting on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards at night?” (324). Towards the end of the novel, Scout once again displays her maturity. When Heck Tate and Atticus finally agree to cover up Boo’s killing of Bob Ewell, Atticus must gain the approval of his daughter. Giving Atticus her approval, Scout uses a lesson he taught her, stating, “Yes sir, I understand… It’d be sort of like shootin’ a Mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” Finally, in the book’s closing moments, as Scout returns home, she stands in front of the Radleys’ window, imagining the events of the story from Boo’s perspective. Scout realizes that “Atticus was right… you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (374). This event represents the pinnacle of Scout’s learning, as she asserts, “Jem and I would get grown but there wasn’t much else left for us to learn”
Throughout the beginning of the novel, Scout exhibits her indifference multiple times. Scout first meets poverty when faced with the poor Cunninghams. After being scolded by the teacher for attempting to explain the Cunningham’s financial …show more content…
She first exhibits this maturity while passing by the Radley house on her way back from school. When thinking of Boo, Scout recalls she sometimes felt “a twinge of remorse” in the partaking of “what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley” (324). She proceeds to question, “What reasonable recluse wants children peeping through his shutters, delivering greeting on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards at night?” (324). Towards the end of the novel, Scout once again displays her maturity. When Heck Tate and Atticus finally agree to cover up Boo’s killing of Bob Ewell, Atticus must gain the approval of his daughter. Giving Atticus her approval, Scout uses a lesson he taught her, stating, “Yes sir, I understand… It’d be sort of like shootin’ a Mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” Finally, in the book’s closing moments, as Scout returns home, she stands in front of the Radleys’ window, imagining the events of the story from Boo’s perspective. Scout realizes that “Atticus was right… you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (374). This event represents the pinnacle of Scout’s learning, as she asserts, “Jem and I would get grown but there wasn’t much else left for us to learn”