Preview

To Kill a Mockingbird - Character Analysis of Scout

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
799 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To Kill a Mockingbird - Character Analysis of Scout
Character analysis of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout is a very unusual little girl, both in her own qualities and in her social position. She is unusually intelligent in many ways that is far more advanced than the other children who she associates herself with for example she learns to read before she is anywhere close to beginning school, and she is unusually confident for her age as you can see from the story she never backs down when it is time for her to fight boys without fear or remorse for their feelings, which is a normal quality for a young man of the area but most certainly not of a young lady, she is also unusually thoughtful she consistently worries about the essential goodness and evil of mankind and its effects on the common man no matter what race or color, and she always tries to act from a highly educated standpoint and with the best intentions for all who are involved. In terms of her social identity, she is unusual for being a tomboy in the prim and proper Southern world where the girls are all expected to have absolutely nothing to do with the life of the immature and annoying young men of the community of Maycomb. One quickly realizes when reading To Kill a Mockingbird that Scout is who she is because of the way Atticus has raised her. He has nurtured her mind, conscience, and individuality without bogging her down in fussy social dealing which she is obviously mature enough to deal with but is far too young to worry with. While most girls in Scout's position would be wearing dresses and learning manners, Scout, thanks to Atticus's hands-off parenting

style, she rarely bothers with the things that most people of the community expect of her she still wears overalls and learns to climb trees with Jem and Dill. She does not always grasp social problems for example she tells her teacher that one of her fellow students is too poor to pay her back for lunch, which scout clearly understands and is not the least bit concerned about the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • 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

    Is Scout Finch Innocent

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The first trait scout is portrayed to be is literate. She is above her peers expectations when it comes to her literacy. Scout says “She discovered I was iterate, and looked at me with faint distaste”(Lee 17). Miss Caroline, Scout’s teacher, is in distaste because she was yet to see a young literate child, and because of this, Scout gets unwanted tension between…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout is by far an interesting and unordinary child in the novel of To Kill a Mockingbird. She is the main character and narrator of the story. She is the youngest child of Atticus Finch who is a lawyer and Scout also has an older brother named Jem. What makes Scouts character so special is that she changes her qualities throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel Scout is an innocent and kind-hearted six-year old girl, only because she has not encountered the true evils of the world. As the novel progresses Scout starts to face evil encounters such as racism, and townspeople wanting to hurt her and her family. These evil encounters and Atticus’s wisdom are the reasons to why Scout has unique character traits. Scout is a fascinating character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird because she possesses traits of intelligence, courage, and compassion.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout grows up in many ways though the book. She learns to know people before judging them. To see some people are extremely rasist. That some people are very inhumane, and finally that some people do not believe in…

    • 452 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

    Scout's interactions with others also contribute to her development: In the beginning, she meets Dill, meeting him gives Scout her sense of adventure and wrongful doings, and Jem contributes to this too. When she talks with Miss Maudie throughout the book, Scout begins to realize things about people that she never knew. Towards the end she meets with Arthur Radley, meeting him taught Scout the full meaning of “climbing in his skin and walking around in it.” (Lee 30) Scouts interactions with other characters shows how she is just a girl that is trying to learn what is right ans what is wrong.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another reason she may have played outside so often and acted boyish is because she was young. A six year old wouldn’t be able to sit around inside as easily as a young lady. Yes, both would want to go out and explore, but a young lady is more likely to atone to her responsibility. Scout didn’t enjoy wearing dresses because she wasn’t able to run around and climb like the boys could. She was restricted when she wore dresses and that’s probably the main reason Scout, like Harper Lee, enjoyed wearing…

    • 93 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout, also known as Jean Louise Finch is one of the most important roles in the book, as she is one of the main characters, and the book is based around her. She is the youngest person in her family, and is a very smart character that knows a lot more than most/all people of her age, she is also very mature and respectful, especially in the way that she speaks to people, she uses very mature words and talks quite sophisticatedly. Scout’s father Atticus inspires her to push her limits and learn what she could not possibly learn in school, although her teachers rather her learning at the same rate as the rest of the students. She loves education, and being smart although she hates school, because it prohibits her from the things that school…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird.

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Jean Louise "Scout" Finch makes several progressions as a character from the beginning of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" to the end of part one. When Scout is introduced, she is shown as being a rude, hot-headed, quick-tempered little girl who sees nothing wrong with beating up the person who does her wrong. As she grows, she turns into a young girl who is still rude, hot-headed, and quick-tempered, but knows how to restrain her anger and not resort to physical violence. Scout learns about the harsh realities of life and that the people who live around her are biased and racist. In the first part of the novel, she learns and grows exponentially, and it shows.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout is a tomboy who prefers the company of boys and generally solves her differences with her fists. She tries to make sense of a world that demands that she act like a lady, a brother who criticizes her for acting like a girl, and a father who accepts her just as she is. Scout hates school, gaining her most valuable education on her own street and from her father.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The characterisation technique that I feel was most effective in the construction of scouts character is setting. Lee’s choice to associate Scout with the outdoors and conveying her as a tomboy was constructed merely through the characterisation technique of setting. This is evident, “Thereafter the summer passed in routine contentment. Routine contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin chinaberry trees in the backyard, fussing, running through our list of dramas based on the works of Oliver optic, Victor Appleton and Edgar Rice Burroughs”(page 8). This example of the construction of scout’s character affects my impressions, ideas and connotations associated with scout. She is represented with personal traits of…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout learns valuable lessons on the evil of prejudice present in her Southern town of Maycomb, on the true nature of courage, and on the dangers of judging others before "...climbing into their skin and walking around in it." Set in the mid 1930s, Scout Finch is a young girl living with her older brother, Jem, and her lawyer father. Being a kid, Scout has the simple duties of a minor, to have fun and to stay out of trouble. But along the way, she also learns many important things. Although the majority of her hometown is prejudiced, Scout's innocent mind remains non prejudice and caring of others. To her, all is equal, so therefore, should be treated equal. There is no doubt that Scout's character is one whom is an individual, someone whom will stick to her own perspective no matter how cruel and racist other people can be. In her adult world, Scout learns to treat all people fairly with dignity and respect.…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She's still learning and hasn't had enough experience to to think about discrimination. Her main influence is her father, who is a very moral man and has done everything in his power to keep Jem and Scout pure of racism. In chapter 9, Scout listens in to Atticus’ conversation with Uncle Jack about his Tom Robinson case then explains how he hopes Jem and Scout will take advice from him rather than town due to Maycomb’s “usual disease”, prejudice, against his pure heart that will help them more in the long run. Scout never found out how Atticus caught her listening in that night but she mentions that it was not until later that she realized Atticus wanted her to hear every word. This is a great representation of flashback narration, showing how she's more informed of what had happened now that she's more grown. Flashback narration creates an authenticity that is very attractive to readers and allows the adult version of Scout to inject more mature explanations when…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Scout is a daughter, a sister and a friend. She is a huge tomboy; and she likes to prove it to every one. She prefers to hang out boys rather than girls, and so she does, she spends most of her time…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, is one of the main characters in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, this story is seen through her perspective. Scout is an innocent, ignorant, young girl who lives with her father, Atticus and brother Jem in Alabama, Maycomb County. Scout is quite special amongst her town; from her personal qualities; tomboyish behaviour due to the parenting style of Atticus, and her social position from her being the daughter of a respected lawyer and that her family’s living standards are better off than many in the town. Scout is an intelligent girl who has learnt to read and write before she even started going to school, she was protected from hypocrisy and social pressure due to the nurturing of her father. Due to her…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays