To Kill a Mocking Bird Maturity

Scout’s Coming of Ages Experiences
By: Jessica Batey
In the Novel to Kill a Mockingbird by Harpee Lee, one of the main characters Jean Louise Finch, also known as scout; matures and grows up. Not only does she grow up but she gets to experience many different traumatic moments over the 3 year time frame in this book. She learns from mistakes she makes and from the people around her and most importantly Maycomb County, the town she lives in. Jean Louise Finch also known as “Scout” is a 6 year old girl who is a complete tomboy. She follows her 10 year old brother Jem almost everywhere he goes and does as he does, but as the book goes on she begins to mature and fade as her brother’s shadow.
In the Novel to Kill a Mockingbird, scout matures in many ways based on moments that have affected her. For Example, the racism and prejudice people in Maycomb County. Racism was a severe problem during the Great Depression. One moment that tied in with racism is Scout witnessing the trial between Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell. Mayella claims that Tom Robinson, a poor black man raped her when she asked him to come help her with work. Of course, having a jury full of Caucasian’s they began siding with Mayella. Even after Mayella gets proved lying by Atticus when she states that Tom put both hands on her when he can only use one because of an incident in his past, she still wins the case. It just shows that the whole trial was racist, prejudice, and that Mayella only won because they believe white women wouldn’t lie and a black man would. Not only does Scout mature from this case but she gets to see the true world and how in reality the African Americas got treated worse and unfairly.
Not only does Scout witness the jury being very racist but she witnesses the whole town being racist too. For example, Scout witness’s Atticus being called a “nigger –lover” by her cousin. This was Scouts first time encountering someone with such a racist-prejudice attitude. This not only upsets Scout but infuriates her at the same time. Right away she begins to want to fight her cousin, and runs herself into one. Atticus, being used to the racism of the town sits Scout down and has a talk with her about the town being prejudice, and not to let people’s opinions bother her. Not only is this scouts first encountering with someone being racist but it’s her first taste of reality. Having this happen to Scout was a wakeup call and allowed her to realize what the real world is like, and that people are very judgmental. It also taught her that she can’t let what people think of her or her family bother her, because everybody will judge because everyone has different opinions and ways.
Another moment that affects Scout is when Atticus shoots the rapid dog. Scout gets angry from people in her town judging but little does she pay attention that she is judging her own father. Scout begins to believe that her father does nothing, and she begins to lose her pride in him. Little does Scout know her father is actually a great marksman and he isn’t the man she thinks he is. This is an important time because it affects Scout in many ways. Scout begins to realize that her father isn’t the boring man she thought she he was, and that she judged him. She realizes that she un-willingly judged her father and that she shouldn’t assume things until she really knows the truth, because judging her father makes her just as low as the people in her town who judge the African American’s.
One last moment that truly affects Scout the most is the incident with Boo Radley. She begins to hear rumors about Boo Radley at a young age when she was 6. She hears that Boo Radley has yellow teeth, has long nasty hair, smells, and is basically a freak. Scout judges Boo Radley without even seeing him before based on what she heard. When Jem and Scout are walking home one night after a school function, they are attacked by Bob Ewell. In the process of being attacked Boo Radley shows up and saves the children and brings Jem home as Scout follows behind. Not only does this show that Boo Radley isn’t the monster from they’re childhood but he is a good guy who is just trying to help the children. Boo Radley doesn’t want anyone to find out he saved the kids, he wants to lay low and not have everyone find out. After all scouts have learned she tries to think in the mind of Boo and she realizes why he doesn’t want everyone finding out. Scout realizes not to judge a man until you have walked in their shoes and that is a very valuable lesson she learns in the process of growing up. In the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird one of the main characters Jean Louise Finch also known as “Scout” learns many valuable lessons that help her mature in the 3 year time frame of this book. From age 6 to 9 she learns many things that will stay with her for her whole life and make her the mature child she has become. She gets to see how the world is and that not everybody is nice. She realizes that not everyone is going to be nice and nonjudgmental; she sees that there are very judgmental people in our world. Scout gets the full affect and learns the true definition of “prejudice” and “Racism “and what they really mean. She gets to see how cruel and judgmental people can be but she manages to take in everything, mature and learn from it.