Theme Of Growing Up In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has won many awards and has created a significant spot in the history of literature. Lee was brought up in the South, and that became a motivator for her to write this novel. In the book, the author navigates us around the unjust world in the racially biased Southern USA in the 1900’s, through the eyes of Jean Louise Finch, or as one may know her, Scout. The book is a virtual portal to the world Scout lives in. Lee takes the readers on a journey in which Scout, a naive but curious girl, discovers and fights many different kinds of discriminations which are based on race, gender, family status and class. These aspects put one in a state of mind in which they experience a clash of opposing feelings …show more content…
This motif is used throughout the book to identify the growth of the different people in the novel. Scout, in the beginning, is very young and slowly grows and gains more experience and a much older Scout is more used to the ways the world works. One quote that shows this motif is “Calpurnia would do until Dill came. She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.” (117). This quote is from Chapter 12, which features a much more mature Scout, who realises the importance of families and roles of the members in a family. Over the book, we have seen her naivety develop into intelligence because of her experience in the different fields of life. This motif of growing up can develop the bond between family members. Here, Scout learns from Alexandra that being a woman is not completely opposite from being a man. A true human casts a mark of simplicity and honour. The only difference is that a gentleman casts a bold mark and a gentlewoman casts an elegant mark, and both have a need to exist in a family. This older version of Scout understands the lack of femininity in a family and its importance. She has obviously realised that she is the closest person to a gentlewoman to the Finches. This connects back to the …show more content…
It is used in the following lines - “It was no accident. I was sittin‘ there on the porch last night, waiting. I waited and waited to see you all come down the sidewalk, and as I waited I thought, Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win, but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that. And I thought to myself, well, we’re making a step—it’s just a baby step, but it’s a step.” The following words were spoken by Mrs. Maudie. This quote exemplifies the motif of growing up as it shows that the Maycomb society is growing up and becoming more modern. In previous days, a black man wouldn’t be given a good lawyer or so much time to pass a verdict, which is, in a way growing up. This can cause the society to change their views on many things, and traditions. Many different families, black and white, came to hear the verdict, and after Atticus brilliantly proved Robinson to be innocent, the crowd realises the torture that the negroes have been through. The white part of the crowd would, however, never be able to stand in a shoe of a negro, and never truly understand what it feels to be treated like a different species of human. The growing up of Maycomb had added lights to the mindsets o many individuals, including Judge Taylor who gave Tom Robinson the advantage of Atticus Finch, one of the best lawyers in Maycomb. But the society has already left the jury with a