Examples Of Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

Coming of Age Every person goes through a stage of growing up. During this stage, bad choices are made, emotions are out of whack, and obliviousness is a common thing. Older people sometimes forget what it is like to go through this, and question why the younger crowd makes some of the decisions that they do. What they also forget is that it takes experience, and listening to other people’s points of view to be able to be the person they are today. Coming-of-age involves recognizing different perspectives. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is an example of a character whose coming-of-age process involves gaining a different perspective. All of Scout’s life, she is told that blacks are not as good as whites. It takes a visit to her cook Calpurnia’s church, and other series of events for Scout to realize the
equality that blacks and white actually share.
While the Reverend of Calpurnia’s church is praying on behalf of everyone, Scout “didn’t believe it… Reverend Sykes then called on the Lord to bless the sick and suffering, a procedure no different from our church practice” (Lee 161). Scout does not realize how similar the practices of religion are between blacks and whites until she experiences it first hand. She does not know that blacks are not all that different from whites to begin with, aside from skin color. After an argument Scout has with her Aunt Alexandra about a specific child’s quality of life, Jem, Scout’s brother, attempts to cheer her up by telling her about the people around them. After carefully listening to what Jem had to say about the beliefs, and practices of specific people, Scout claims “I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in his house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 304). Because Jem starts to discuss the way of certain people, and the reasons
for their actions, Scout suddenly understands why Boo Radley, a man who stays cooped up in his home all the time, steers clear of everyone. She realizes that Boo Radley simply wants to avoid the prejudice, and evil some of the people in their community bring. Scout receives a different perspective on equality, and on the people she lived around, which allows her to to gain knowledge that eventually will help her morally. Gaining these new angles on things is crucial for Scout in order for her to come-of-age. In the National Geographic article “Beautiful Brains”, David Dobbs shows how gaining new perspectives during coming-of-age helps individuals to be smarter and more successful. During the time of adolescence, teenagers obtain more of a risky and outgoing behavior. This type of behavior is not always harmful.“Excitement, novelty, risk… these traits that define adolescence make us more adaptive, both as individuals and as a species” (Dobbs). In order for people to be aware of and understand dangers in the world, they must take risks out of curiosity. If risks are not taken, people will never even begin to learn, which will lead to future bad decisions as one and as a whole. Making wrong decisions is what teens, and even people in their early twenties are prone to. “This long, slow, back-to-front developmental wave, completed in the mid-20s, appears to be a uniquely human adaptation. It may be one of our most consequential” (Dobbs). Learning is a long and complicated process. One may think to learn it simply to gather information from other’s prior knowledge. In reality, to learn is to experience, to take risks, and to be able to look at things from different points of view. Looking at situations from various perspectives while still growing up, and being able to take risks allows a person to realize how much more substantial and intimidating the world around them is. Having a bigger picture of the world prepares one for future decision-making that may lead to wisdom and success.
Personally, I know for fact that I have not completely come-of-age yet. This process began when my mom began making it imperative that I would not always have life this easy, and that one day I would have to take on my own responsibilities. It all began when I did not do a chore as simple as the dishes. Of course, I was scolded, and I just did not understand what the big deal was. After all, they were just dishes. She then told me that in the future, if I did not take care of, and carry out my responsibilities, no one would. I created a scenario in my mind shortly after. I imagined I was living alone in an apartment, and dishes were piling up in the sink. I soon began to listen to my mom’s words, and realized that nobody was going to do them if I did not. Being able to create a scenario from my mom’s perspective allowed me to understand where she was coming. Sometimes it takes looking through another person’s eyes to realize what they are trying to teach, or even what they are going through.
Growing up requires one to be open-minded about other people’s perspectives. This is important to realize because a lot of the older crowd tends to forget what it took to get where they are today. Aging is not just getting more distinct facial features, or getting taller every year. Getting older is not agreeing or disagreeing with one’s angle of seeing things, but being able to understand their perspective.