To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Table of Contents
Scout
When considering her social position and the qualities she possesses throughout the novel, it is very easy to see that Scout is quite unusual, as little girls go. She is very intelligent, and can already read when she starts school. She is also very confident, and has gotten into fights with several boys without showing any fear. For her age, she is extremely thoughtful. For example, she worries about things like the evil in the world and the essential goodness of mankind as a whole. Scout generally always has the best of intentions when she acts, but she stands out because she is such a tomboy when the majority of women and girls in Maycomb are very prim and proper. That is how women are "supposed" to act in the South, and Scout does not fit that stereotype.
One can see that Scout's attitude about life comes from the way she has been raised by her father. He has shown her how to be an individual, and to value the kinds of things that are important in life. Scout is climbing trees instead of wearing dresses, and she does not have a good grasp of social niceties or some of the specific areas of human behavior. She means well, and she is open and honest about her feelings, beliefs, and opinions. She is very innocent when the novel first begins, but she comes to understand prejudice and other evils as the story progresses. How she develops and how she handles these new pieces of information will affect whether she ends up optimistic or she decides that hurt, bruised, and emotionally battered is going to be the new normal for her. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley have chosen that path, possibly not willingly. With her father's help, though, she remains aware that there is much better than evil in the world, and that helps her to retain her optimism. At the end of the book, one can see how much Scout's understanding of the world around her has grown, and how much she has matured.
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