To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by author Harper Lee in the 1960s about the injustice of discrimination, a bildungsroman of three steadily maturing major characters: Jem, Dill, and Scout. The story is set in 1930’s Maycomb County, Alabama, where racial tensions are running high and the rift between black and white is wider than ever. Scout, aged six in the beginning of the book and nine at the end, has a question for everything wrong about Southern society. Dill, who is only a year older than she, notices everything bad going on around him and struggles to make sense of it. Jem, who is thirteen by the end of the story, attempts to come to a logical conclusion about the merits of discrimination and finds it impossible. By disrupting
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Dill seems incapable of even grasping the concept of a grudge, as evidenced by his behavior during the court scene, when “for some reason Dill had started crying and couldn't stop; quietly at first, then his sobs were heard by several people in the balcony” (Lee 265). Because he grew up outside of Maycomb County and only visits during the summer to see his Aunt Rachel, it is possible that Dill has suffered less exposure to discrimination, but it is impossible to know since there is no provided textual evidence of the balances of his hometown. Then, when Scout is told by Jem to take him out of the courtroom, Dill explains that “it was just him [he] couldn’t stand” (Lee 265), referring to Mr. Gilmer and the way he was speaking to Tom Robinson. Dill, being the kind-hearted little boy he is, holds no foul views towards African Americans, but while he is perceptive and kind, his best friend finds it much more difficult to relate to others, or even deviate from the standards that she has always stuck …show more content…
These three children, as intelligent members of society, realize the truth—that discrimination is idiotic and cruel—but grew up thinking that it was just the way things were. In spite of their surroundings, they are able to see past the haze of society into the light of truth, which is that all men (and women) are created equal. As these three characters steadily mature, their notions of society change also. As time passes, things happen, and when things happen, the world develops; and because the transitive property in math applies to real life, it is safe to say that time develops the
Dill seems incapable of even grasping the concept of a grudge, as evidenced by his behavior during the court scene, when “for some reason Dill had started crying and couldn't stop; quietly at first, then his sobs were heard by several people in the balcony” (Lee 265). Because he grew up outside of Maycomb County and only visits during the summer to see his Aunt Rachel, it is possible that Dill has suffered less exposure to discrimination, but it is impossible to know since there is no provided textual evidence of the balances of his hometown. Then, when Scout is told by Jem to take him out of the courtroom, Dill explains that “it was just him [he] couldn’t stand” (Lee 265), referring to Mr. Gilmer and the way he was speaking to Tom Robinson. Dill, being the kind-hearted little boy he is, holds no foul views towards African Americans, but while he is perceptive and kind, his best friend finds it much more difficult to relate to others, or even deviate from the standards that she has always stuck …show more content…
These three children, as intelligent members of society, realize the truth—that discrimination is idiotic and cruel—but grew up thinking that it was just the way things were. In spite of their surroundings, they are able to see past the haze of society into the light of truth, which is that all men (and women) are created equal. As these three characters steadily mature, their notions of society change also. As time passes, things happen, and when things happen, the world develops; and because the transitive property in math applies to real life, it is safe to say that time develops the