To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel that brought great controversy. The novel is told in the eyes of Scout Finch, a young girl growing up during the great depression who’s father is a lawyer defending a black man in court. During the course of the story, Scout grows and changes and as she does so she turns into a compassionate, and mature young lady that is like the Good Samaritan. In the beginning Scout has no problem with being racist and prejudice, and feels it’s normal. During the story she is influenced by her father, and sees how he is like the Good Samaritan in so many ways. Finally, Scout changes her attitudes towards others and is like the Good Samaritan. Throughout the novel, Scout grows to understand the faults in her society, and learns to treat people as equals, without racism or being prejudice.

In the beginning of the story Scout is just as all of the other citizens of Maycomb are. She participates in games with her friend Dill and her brother Jem that they play out of pure curiosity, because they are scared of their neighbour Boo Radley. They spend their days daring each other to step foot onto the Radley property, and all of them suspect Boo Radley to be evil and to have committed horrible crimes. She doesn’t see what racism and being prejudice is and is convinced that the way her society operates is just fine and doesn’t question it. Scout doesn’t understand that people of all races and genders are different, and when she attends church with Calpurnia one Sunday she tells her that the way black people speak is wrong, and if her maid has the ability to speak like the white people then she should do so instead of embarrassing herself.

Throughout the story, as Atticus starts defending Tom Robinson; Scout is confused as to why her father is defending him. She sees Atticus be a Good Samaritan and begins to understand that there is no reason to have a negative attitude towards someone you don’t know, and have no reason to dislike. This shows one day when Scout and Dill are playing near the Radley place, and he suggests going to peek in the window. Scout says she doesn’t think it will be nice to bother Boo Radley, and they continue on with what their playing. However, during the court case when Mr. Gilmer is cross examining Tom Robinson and Dill gets upset, Scout follows him out and when Dill expresses his emotions are because of how Mr. Gilmer is belittling Tom, Scout says “Well, Dill, after all he’s just a Negro.” Here, she’s still racist and still doesn’t think that people of all races are equal in society.

Near the end of the novel, Scout turns into the Good Samaritan. After the court case, one evening Jem and Scout are talking and Jem says “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbours, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes.” After discussing this Scout says “Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks”. Scout is showing that everyone is equal to her, and she’s displaying that she thinks everyone deserves to be treated the same no matter where they come from, or what colour they are. At the very end of the novel Scout and Jem are attacked by Bob Ewell, and she sees Boo Radley for the first time. When she meets him she pushes aside all of the prejudice she held towards him and treats him as a friend. She even goes as far as to walk with him home after the commotion winds down.

The character of Scout develops greatly during the course of the novel. She goes from being a young girl that believes all of what she hears from other people and doesn’t give people a chance, to being caring and compassionate to the extent that she sees everyone, and treats everyone as an equal. She develops into a good person, similar to how the man developed into the Good Samaritan, through seeing and learning from her father. Scout’s generation was the beginning of equality, and that’s shown through how her views on the world were so different from the elders in her town by the end of the story. To Kill A Mockingbird may have struck controversy, but it showed people the truth of how society was run during the great depression.