Imagine your child is growing up in a short span, being tainted by the evils of man and the heart of the prejudice. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem Finch are forced to age early when their father takes an unpopular side in the courtroom. His children learn the up and downs of being social outcasts who’s father is a ‘nigger-lover’. Although through the course of their unexpected summer, they absorb many aspects of life that even the adults are oblivious to. As they are progressing through their eye-opening summer, Jem and Scout Finch learn about the power of names in their society, the roles of destructive loneliness, and the loss of their innocence. The power of names in Maycomb County seeps into every crease of the public …show more content…
When Scout wants to spend time with him, Aunty forbides it, simply given that he is a Cunningham. “The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem.” (Lee 300). Aunt Alexandra stresses the point that despite Walter, a Cunningham, cleaning himself up and presenting himself well, will never be like Jem, a Finch. Merely given his surname, Walter will not be invited into the Finch house while Aunty is present. Scout fails to understand this, because her friend is a Cunningham, they are not ‘suppose’ to strengthen their bond. All of the children in Maycomb avoid the Radley house. Although he has never been spotted by them, they knew exactly what he appeared as, a monster. “Boo Radley was about-six-and-a-half feet tall...there was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (Lee 16). The Radley house is feared and avoided by the children of Maycomb. The Radleys are perceived as ghoulish and morbid by the youth of the town. Children run past their house fearful of the Radley’s, because they are recognised as evil, unhappy,