Preview

What does Scout learn at the end of To Kill A Mocking Bird?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
511 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What does Scout learn at the end of To Kill A Mocking Bird?
What does Scout learn at the end of the novel?

Throughout the novel, The Kill A Mockingbird, the narrator, Scout, who is only three years old at the beginning, grows up to understand the evils of the society in the 1930s. Her mind is full of fun and excitement, but as important events unfold in Maycomb, she begins to discover themes such as racism and prejudice as she grows older that would have seemed meaningless to her during the beginning

In the earlier stages of the book, Scout enjoyed the summer holidays playing with Jem and Dill. Their curiosity and fascination of the Radley house caused them to come up with imaginary descriptions of Boo. They depicted him as a ferocious monster that ate little kids at night. At one point, Scout rolled into the Radley yard in a tire and Jem and Dill were completely scared that Boo was going to come out and kill Scout. However, a ferocious monster did not come out and kill her and that's when Scout thought that Boo didn't kill her and maybe wasn't going to. The night when Scout, Dill and Jem were creeping around Boo's house and Jem got his pants caught under the fence. They all ran as fast as they could back home, but when Jem went back for his pants, he found them neatly folded up. They started to believe that somebody in Maycomb was trying to help them, but they did not believe it was Boo. However, the incident that made Scout finally realise that Boo was not a monster and was locked in his house, was the night when Bob Ewell attacked Jem and Arthur Radley knifed Mr Ewell to save the kids. Scout discovered that Boo Radley was not chained to his bed, but refused to come out into the society because of the prejudice he would face if he did.

Before the Tom Robinson trial, Scout never knew what racism was until a black man was charged with raping a white woman. Little did Scout know that the people in Maycomb were obviously against the black and for the whites. After the trial, Scout was unclear why Tom was still charged even

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    During the fire at Miss Maudie’s house, Scout and Jem, unknowingly, was given a blanket to keep warm. When the Finches plus Miss Maudie return to their home, Scout asks who she should thank for the blanket. Jem proceeded to answer that it was most likely Boo Radley’s doing. This starts a confliction between Scout and her beliefs. Scout has always thought of Boo Radley through the mind of a child, a story that stole her attention. But when she witnessed Boo Radley doing something kind and thoughtful, she found herself shocked and unbelieving. “My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept toward me.” (Lee 96). At this moment, Scout realized how real and human Boo Radley and altered her view of the man.…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley Journal

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Boo was locked up in the bottom of the courthouse for awhile because of this but after he came home no one ever saw him. Another reason the kids will never see him are the kids are too scared of him. Jem and Scout claim that there is a malevolent phantom living in the house otherwise known as Boo Radley. Apparently, one time Miss Stephanie Crawford woke up in the middle of the night and saw Boo Radley looking directly toward her through his window. Jem adds that Boo was scratching at their back screen late at night but was gone way before Atticus could catch him. Jem told Dill if he knocked on the Radley’s door he would definitely wind up dead. This started a chain of events where Dill dared Jem to go knock claiming that Jem was scared. Of course Jem wanted to prove to Dill he wasn’t scared of Boo Radley so, he ran through the yard slapped the house and came running back even faster. After he ran through the yard and back Scout and Dill followed right at his heels back home. They all were afraid of getting caught by Boo Radley so they ran all the way home. Jem, Scout, and Dill made…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harper Lee uses Scout to represent a new generation of people who are willing to push the boundaries of social normalities, fight for justice and accept that “there’s only one type of folk. Folk” even if it means going against the wishes of society. She as well as many other children of the time are being taught to think independently, which creates a sense of hope, as these children are the future forefronts of Maycomb society. This is proven when the verdict at the end of the court case seemed strikingly unfair to Scout, who was able to make herself colour and class blind in order to develop her own understanding of the events occurring in Maycomb. Scout is educated and will promote change in the community along with the other young, educated and colour blind people of Maycomb who have learnt a new and mature way of thinking. And as Maycomb “fears what it doesn’t understand” with children like Scout pushing to tear down the wall of prejudice surrounding Maycomb and understand why it was put there in the first place, fear is diminished and there is hope for a healthier society.…

    • 875 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The narrator, Scout from the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a grown woman telling the story through her eyes as a young girl. Most of the book’s charm is gathered from the ironicness of her perspective of growing up in the depression era in the South. As the novel progresses Scout becomes more courageous, intelligent, and mature which helps her develop into a better person.…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley Realization

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For a majority of the book Scout was told Boo Radley was a crazy, antisocial, outcast, through the rumors spread around Maycomb. Scout did not know anything else about Boo, so she did not think twice about it. One of the stories Scout heard was about how Boo Radley “drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities" (Lee 13). This story contributed to the idea that Boo was crazy. Everybody thought he was heartless and was willing to kill his own parents. Everyone in Maycomb had…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley is one of the most important characters in the story. “Hey Boo,” (Lee, 362). This is the first chapter where you actually meet Boo. He is standing in the corner of Jem’s room when Jem broke his elbow. Everybody thinks Boo is this really scary person. They call him Boo because he’s like a ghost. His real name is Arthur Radley. Jem described him as, “about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time." (Lee,chapter1) This shows what Scout and Jem thought of him. It was a not very good assumption. He turns out to be not so creepy in the way he looks and turned out to be a very nice person which scout didn’t really expect. They realized their perceptions was wrong because he gave them food, fixed Jem’s pants, and gave them dolls over time.She came to expect it as she matured and got…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Childhood innocence is fleeting—when the world is no longer simply teddy bears and rainbows, the mind of a child seeks guidance. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a young girl by the name of Scout grows up in the narrow minded town of Maycomb, Alabama. While the Great Depression wreaks havoc on southern farmers, racism runs rampant as the poor white man attempts to assert his non-existent superiority over the black community. With her father defending a black man accused of rape in an upcoming trial, Scout becomes surrounded by more negativity and hate than ever before. Lost and confused, Scout finds herself looking up to the only parent she has—Atticus Finch. Through the admirable…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the novel, Scout starts out as an ignorant boyish girl. She had no knowledge of the world and relied on her brother. At the end of the novel, she becomes more ladylike and less selfish. The lessons she learns are all in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One of them is to judge a person, you have to look at things from their point of view.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All through the book, Scout, her brother, Jem, and their friend, Dill rack their brains, trying to understand why Boo doesn’t leave his house. After walking Boo home, Scout begins to look back on past events, but this time, from the Radley’s home. “I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle” Simply from this, Scout was able to imagine the world from Boo’s perspective. From meeting Dill to having their hearts broken by the Tom Robinson trial verdict, Boo had been watching. Scout begins to understand what Dill had meant long before, when he proposed that perhaps Boo stayed at home because he wanted to. From his home, he could watch over Scout and Jem, and for that, Scout was…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird was told through the eyes of an older Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, describing her past and how she viewed things as a naïve and idealistic young girl. At the beginning of the book, being only six, we learn that Scout was quite immature and has yet to develop as a person, being easily confused with new terms, not knowing how to handle situations unknown to her and tries to resolve her problems using her fists and talking to Atticus about what transpired to her throughout the day. As the novel progresses and she gradually grows up to an eight-year-old, she begins to understand and realizes Maycomb’s true colours, accepts that racism and prejudice exists, and the world isn’t as nice and sunny as she thought it would be.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Finch Role Model

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages

    To Kill A Mockingbird was and still is one the first novels I read as a teenager, that led me to wonder about society and the judgement's we place on individuals. That it is easy to assume and believe the rumors, rather than being the template in pursuit of factuality. Scout was that person. She was a very small child and when you don't know or understand something due to your age, you have to believe what others do and say is in fact, acceptance. She had no choice but to accept what she was told. As the story goes on, Scout listens and learns, much more than she could have imagined.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout, the narrator from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, learns life changing lessons in a few years. Although she might be young, that doesn’t mean that she is completely clueless. With her father, Atticus being a lawyer in the South during the 1930s she is judged by her father’s cases, although sometimes not in the most pleasant ways. Also with Jem, her brother, influencing her throughout the book, she learns more than most in just a few years. As Scout begins to grow up, her level of maturity begins to increase with her age. In the beginning when she is five years old, she believed everything. When she was almost seven years old, her mindset began to age. Once Scout turned nine years old, she has began to understand more than she needed to know.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley Evil

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When Dill, Jem, and Scout discuss the rumors they hear about Boo, Jem gives a description of the mystery man: "Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time"(16). This description indicates that the children assign characteristics to Boo without validation; they want to see Boo not as their neighbor, but as scary, creepy monster, showing Scout's immaturity at the beginning of the novel. While Dill describes Dracula, he also says he is fascinated by Boo Radley. Then he tells a story he heard about Boo:"His father entered the room. As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities."(9). This rumor indicates that Scout has not credible sources, resulting in her judging a book by it´s cover and not it´s character. This also exemplifies lack of…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus, is an honest white man who is defending an innocent Negro man, although he is frowned upon by others. The white folks of Maycomb County think that they have a higher social status than the black community, and that the views of a Negro does not matter. The most blatant example of racism in the novel is when Tom Robinson was convicted of raping Mayella Ewell. Although the people of the town know that Tom Robinson was innocent, the jury still saw him as guilty because he is an African American man, and would never be able to win over a white man. This jury ruling causes both those who encouraged Robinson’s conviction and those who were convinced of his innocence to question their views of justice and fairness. This decision forces Scout and Jem to confront the fact that the beliefs that Atticus has taught them cannot always be accustomed with the reality of the world and the evils of human nature. Even their neighbor, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, who the children are scared of, is racist and calls Atticus a "nigger-lover" to his children. The children despise of her and “hated her. If she was on the porch when [they] passed, [they] would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and given a melancholy prediction on what [they] would amount to when [they] grew up, which was always nothing”…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Radley house has always been a mystery to the children of Maycomb County, the town where Scout lives. According to Jem, Boo Radley six and a half feet tall, ate squirrels and cats, and had a long scar across his face. One summer, Dill, a friend of the children, dared Jem to touch the Radley house. Dill told Jem, “…the folks in Meridian certainly weren’t as afraid as the folks in Maycomb…” (Lee 13). This was enough to persuade Jem into touching the house. After this amazing feat, Scout…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays