To Kill A Mockingbird Character Analysis

Jodi Picoult said, “Kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult, I've decided, is only a slow sewing shut.” In the town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the middle of the Great Depression, six-year-old Scout Finch lives with her older brother Jem, and her father Atticus who is a lawyer. One year a boy named Dill spends the summer with his aunt. The three children become friends and soon become obsessed with a nearby house. The next year, Atticus is appointed by the court to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a poor, notoriously vicious white man named Bob Ewell. Atticus presents a powerful defense of Tom and makes it clear that Ewell is lying. Jem is convinced Atticus will win the case, but the all-white jury still convicts Tom. Jem
and Scout learn lessons that change their point of view and cause them to mature.
When Jem and Scout were younger, at the beginning of the novel, they had a basic understanding of good and bad, but it was skewed. Their views of good were Atticus and many of the other people of Macomb. They trusted Atticus because he is truthful and hasn't ever done wrong to the kids. They trust the people of macomb because they’re old fashioned and the kids aren't involved in the prejudice of the adults. They viewed the Radley’s, specifically Boo, as evil because of their imagination and the rumors surrounding him. Their views of good and bad are very naïve and innocent at the start of the novel.
There are many things that Jem and Scout don't understand because they are too young. The kids don't understand why most of the people of macomb don't treat everyone with equal respect. Atticus has raised his kids, with the help of Calpurnia, to respect everyone the same no matter what their religion, race, or class. They are aware of the prejudice around them but they don't understand why it’s there. Scout witnesses first hand the prejudice against socioeconomic classes when she argues with Miss Caroline about Walter Cunningham’s lunch. The kids also don't understand the violence that goes on throughout the novel. Scout unknowingly interrupts the mob outside Tom’s prison cell, because she was too naïve to comprehend what was transpiring. In the novel there is a lot of prejudice, hate, and violence that goes on and as the novel progresses the kids start to understand more and more of it.
To Kill a Mockingbird also shows a lot of irony and development in Scout and Jem’s views.
Jem, Scout, and Dill use their innocence to take a fresh look at the world of Maycomb and criticize its flaws with their maturing opinions. Scout attends school for the first time, but her school is depicted as strict and unreasonable. Scout’s school is idiotic with teachers who criticize students with an early start on reading and hate the Nazis but can't see the racism that goes on in their own town. To Kill a Mockingbird emphasizes policies designed to create conformist children rather than letting the children be childish and imaginative.
Throughout the novel, Jem and Scout learn lessons that change their point of view and cause them to mature. Their views of good and evil are basic at the beginning of the novel and are based on what they've been allowed to be a part of. As the story progresses their views change because they are shown the hatred violence and prejudice in their town. Jem, Scout, and Dill experience the adult side of Macomb and it changes their entire outlook on life. They comprehend prejudice and violence more and understand what causes it and why it
happens.