Odents 1

Liann Perez Odents

Ms.Starry

English 9 Honors Period 3

30 October 2017

Innocences of The Young

Over time people grow old, and people also mature, such as Scout does. In To Kill a

Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows Scouts development as she encounters and comprehends the

prejudice of Maycomb. In the beginning, Scout is an innocent young lady yet as the novel

commences she starts to realize what the truth around her is. By the finish of the novel, she may

still be youthful yet she has matures greatly. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee implies that the

actions one takes help them to become human beings and what one takes from it and learns

from it helps one to become a mature being. Despite growing up in a prejudiced community,

Scout takes the advice given by the people around her, which significantly impacts her moral

development.

In the beginning, Scout is an outcast, a tomboy who is not accepted by her friends nor her

family. Unaware, Scout often acts without thinking. Having a short temper it is normal for

Scout, but not for others that have no choice but to endure it. For instance, on her first day of

school, she gets into a conflict with her teacher about Atticus teaching her how to read. Miss

Caroline trusts that Atticus ought not to show her how to do anything any longer, but Scout

thinks otherwise. Without pondering it Scout begins a miscommunication with Miss Caroline

that winds up getting her into trouble. At the point when Scout goes home she enlightens

Atticus concerning what her teacher had said, Atticus says "You can never truly comprehend a
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man until the point that you consider things from their purpose of view"(Lee 30). By this

Atticus implies that Scout needs to take a minute to consider how Miss Caroline is feeling and

what she is thinking. After this incident occurring you start to notice how Scout shifts from a

child to a mature young lady.

Later in the novel, Scout starts to take advantage of her newly developed maturity,

applying it to everyday situations. Such as when she begins to understand how Boo Radley must

feel. Boo Radley is a character portrayed to the town of Maycomb as a gruesome, violent, and a

troubled soul. The whole town looking down at Boo for reasons not apparent and children

tormenting Boo for entertainment. Jem, Dill, and herself play "Boo Radley" which is an

amusement that torment Boo into coming out and a way to prove each other's bravery. Scout

starts to understand that Boo Radley is a human being, the same as herself and starts to develop

a sense of empathy. Scout's opinion of Boo Radley moves from believing that he is malicious to

finding him to be a hero, a kind man, and a friend. Towards the end of the novel, Scout finally

begins to call him by his real name, Arthur Radley, instead of the nickname given to him by

locals, Boo Radley, showing an enormous development in respect. When Scout finally gets the

opportunity to see Mr. Arthur face to face, she acts polite and mature. Respecting that, she

overcomes her innocence to make him feel belonged. After getting to know the real Boo and not

the persona put out to the public, she comes to her senses and realizes the dehumanization and

prejudice people have set out are nothing close to true. Such as when Scout points out that,

“Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes

and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 374). This

particular passage shows how often people tend to judge someone without knowing them, how

people judge a book by its cover.

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To Kill a Mockingbird is the learning of human profound quality and presents a

discussion regarding the inherent goodness or evilness of individuals, being portrayed as a

theme. All through the novel, Scout and Jem make exemplary progress from innocence to

maturity. Jem drives this change, as he is more established than Scout, yet the two youngsters

encounter it. Toward the start of the novel, they approach life with an innocent outlook seeing

goodness in all people, thinking everyone has pure morals and values, such as they were taught

to have. Only to be shocked, “I don't know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did

it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it seems that only children weep” (Lee 285).

This goes to show that people do well at times, but evil often prevails. Such as the Tom

Robinson's trial, the youngsters were painfully disappointed when the jury, made up of their

townspeople, convicts the clearly innocent Tom Robinson essentially on the grounds that he is a

black man and his accuser is white. The acknowledgment that there is genuine insidiousness

around, shakes Jem deeply. He held a solid confidence in the integrity surprisingly, however

after the trial must reexamine his understanding of human nature. Toward the finish of the

novel, the two young ones are looked with pure evil, as Bob Ewell attempts to murder them.

Genuine goodness, shown in Boo Radley, spares them. In this last conflict between these

contradicting powers, goodness wins.

At last, the occasions that cause change for the town, and its people, are for the better. By

experiencing the trial, they learn more about those around them and more about themselves.

Furthermore that the world isn't always the most pleasant place nor the people in it.
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Works Cited

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1960.