To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

Olivia Clark To Kill a Mockingbird essay Language A. Period 3

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is about two innocent, young children, Jeremy “Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Scout and Jem, are brother and sister who are living in the South during the Great Depression in Maycomb, Alabama. They both come to understand many things that are incredible for them to understand at their age, but Scout stands out. Scout starts off as her innocent self, but as time passes, she understands better about the folks in Maycomb and life. An example of Scout understanding is when Mrs. Maudie says for Scout to climb into Boo’s (Arthur Radley’s) skin and explains to her that rumors about him probably are not true and to not judge him from what she’s heard. Scout is very intelligent for her age, but still shows she’s innocent.

Scout has trouble carrying conversations with people. Instead, she talks about people’s private lives at an inappropriate time. Atticus tells her she should “climb into his skin and walk around in it,” to make her understand how to get along with different kinds of people. An example of her innocence is when she invites Walter Cunningham over for dinner. Walter was talking about his new baby brother when Scout said “did you pay a bushel of potatoes for him?” (24). This confirms that Scout still doesn’t understand were babies come from. Another example is when Mr. Cunningham and three other men came down in front of the county jail to beat-up Tom Robinson and Atticus. Scout, Jem and Dill came even though Atticus told them to stay home. Scout started taking to Mr. Cunningham about his entailment and about how nice his son, Walter, is. Because Scout was talking to Mr. Cunningham, she saved not only Tom Robinson’s life, but also Atticus’s life. In the beginning of the book, Scout thinks everyone treats each other equal, but she is in for a big shock when she realizes all the whites dislike the black community. After she went through Mr. Underwood’s article, she began to understand the racism and prejudice of the folks of Maycomb County. Scout also can put together why the verdict was guilty. She knows that it is because of the racism the white men have toward the black community. Scout knew Tom Robinson was innocent, but because of the racism and prejudice of the white community, Tom’s verdict was guilty. Scout doesn’t know why the white men are so racist against the blacks.

Ever since Scout found out about Arthur “Boo” Radley, she made it one of her goals to get him out of his house since he had not come out for over thirty years. It is not until the end of the novel that Boo finally comes out of his house. When he does, it is to save Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell who was trying to kill them to get back at Atticus for the embarrassment during the trial. When Scout meets Boo for the first time, she begins to understand the need for darkness and before Boo leaves, he needs to see that Jem is OK. Scout knows this and brings him over to Jem and told him he could touch his hair. When Boo leaves the Finches house, Scout makes sure that he escorts her like a gentleman so that if anyone saw them, they would see that Boo is not anything like the rumors about him say. Lastly, when Scout was standing on the Radley’s porch, she climbs into Boo’s skin and can see things from his point of view. This is when Scout realizes that Boo has been watching her and Jem the whole time and he protects them from danger. She knows that it would be like “…shootin’ a Mockingbird…” (276) to tell everyone in Maycomb County that Boo killed Bob Ewell.

In conclusion, Scout has begun to understand a lot during her childhood. She’s had been taught many lessons and can remarkably understand things that many kids her age couldn’t understand. Now, she has a different perspective on the people of Maycomb. Scout is very intelligent for her age, but still shows she’s innocent.