ipl-logo

Development Of Coming-Of-Age Theme In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

260 Words2 Pages

Harper Lee develops the coming-of-age theme at the end of the novel through Jem and Scout by finally making them put themselves in other people's shoes. Jem and Scout at first were very terrified of Boo Radley; their thoughts of him were rooted from the rumors surrounding him, and they couldn't understand why he never came out of his house. Now, as they have grown, they have come to be more empathetic and think of him as a real person causing Scout to begin to call him Arthur. Clearly, after learning how Maycomb truly is, Jem put himself in Arthur’s shoes and understood and related to him and his wanting to be separated from Maycomb society. For example, Jem states, “I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Aging In To Kill A Mockingbird

    470 Words  | 2 Pages

    As we grow older, most of us learn not to judge others until we understand their lives and how they live them. However, the younger population is generally not accustomed to this and usually believe that almost everyone lives life like them or similar to them. A massive part of aging is learning, which is just what the main character of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, is beginning to understand. In the given excerpt, Scout’s father Atticus teaches her to look through the eyes of other people before judging them or their situation.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Corruption In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1036 Words  | 5 Pages

    In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper E. Lee, the story of protagonist Scout and her older brother Jem unfolds in the small but talkative town of Maycomb, Alabama, where they are raised by their insightful, loving father Atticus. Over the span of a short three years with their sidekick Dill, they spend their childhood days tormenting and daydreaming about town legend Boo Radley, causing shenanigans all over town and not wasting a moment of their care-free, young lives. However, the friends’ summer fun ceases when Scout and Jem especially are faced with traumatic and influential experiences like the renowned Tom Robinson case that send them quickly down the path into young adulthood. The corruption and people of Maycomb send Jem blindly spiraling

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Empathy Quotes

    634 Words  | 3 Pages

    Harper Lee uses the main characters Jem and Scout coming of age to help understand their perspective in how others are treated. “I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be.”(Lee 74) , explained Scout. The quote

    Read More

  • Examples Of Jem's Loss Of Innocence In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1099 Words  | 5 Pages

    Coming of age through life experience is one of the crucial themes of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. This is clearly demonstrated through Jem’s loss of innocence throughout the novel. Jem Finch begins as a naive young boy and ultimately grows to the mature young man known at the end of the story. At the beginning of the novel, Jem’s only concern is to unlock mysteries about Boo Radley. Throughout the novel, Jem’s fixation with Boo Radley s becomes trivial in comparison to the more elaborate case his father, Atticus, takes on.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Evil Quotes

    1059 Words  | 5 Pages

    Scout’s coming of age moment starts in chapter 3 when she is complaining about her teacher Miss Caroline and Atticus tells her that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”. She does not understand her father until much later in the book when she walks Boo Radley home and stands on his porch. She then understands her father’s lesson, claiming that “standing on the radley porch was enough”. Then there is Jem her older brother that comes of age and matures through the book too. He grows in knowledge and bravery.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

    675 Words  | 3 Pages

    Coming of Age In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, both Jem and Scout are forced to grow up by what they experience. They do not ask to grow up; it is forced upon them. Harper Lee uses different elements and literary techniques that are inserted into different themes of the story that are also in the chapters of the story. In Chapter 3, after Scout is reprimanded on her first day at school for knowing how to read, and for her attempts to assist Miss Caroline by explaining who Walter Cunningham is and that she has shamed him.

    Read More

  • Coming Of Age Moments In To Kill A Mockingbird

    652 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kids experience coming of age to grasp lessons that will assist them when they are adults. There are countless coming-of-age moments in a child's life, which shape the way they view the world. In the book, Scout experiences various events that alter her viewpoint on the reality of the world, and the injustices in it. In the To Kill a Mockingbird passage in which Scout overhears the trial of Tom Robinson, author Harper Lee utilizes conflicts and plot events to help portray the theme that not everyone is treated equally. Harper Lee uses conflicts to establish the theme that certain individuals are not treated appropriately.

    Read More

  • Maturity In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

    575 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to mature, we must endure life’s hardships and learn from our actions, both good and bad. Many perceive the concept of being “mature” as making morally correct decisions. One’s maturity shows in various situations. Actively trying to respond to these situations in the best way is difficult when everyone’s definition of the right choice is different. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus tries his best to teach his children how to be mature even if others in Maycomb don’t agree with his ways.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

    796 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever despised someone when you were younger but as you grew older, you learned to appreciate them? In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout initially views Boo Radley as a mysterious and strange person, but later views him as a compassionate and understanding figure. Throughout the novel, the central theme of coming of age is apparent in Scout as her persona develops throughout the story and she comes to recognize Boo Radley’s empathy. A prime example of this is when Radley says goodnight to Jem, and then Scout walks him home and later understands how it feels to be in his shoes.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1138 Words  | 5 Pages

    Courage is not strength or skill, it’s simply standing up for what you believe in and what is right. This is the theme that was enrolled after Jem destroys Mrs.Dubose’s camellias and after she died in chapter 11. This passage also reveals Jem’s coming of age moment. After using conflict, symbolism, and point of view, Harper Lee was able to connect the theme with Jems coming of age moment.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Maturing In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1240 Words  | 5 Pages

    Maturing is something everyone goes through in life whether you go through it early or a little later in life. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows a lot about maturing. Growing up in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama where life was a lot more different from today, you mature much different and in different ways. Jem is one person who matures through the whole story and makes realizations about people around him, including his dad, Tom Robinson, and Mrs. Dubose. Jem goes into the story thinking his dad is just some old man but as he gets older, he realizes there is more to his dad.

    Read More

  • Coming Of Age Moment In To Kill A Mockingbird

    728 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scouts changing perspective of Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley represents a coming of age moment because it demonstrates a breaking away from the childlike imagination that had previously explained all of their questions and superstitions about the Radley’s. A coming-of-age moment is the transition of thinking that occurs when someone learns empathy. At the start of the novel, in many situations, Scout and Jem demonstrate childish behavior and thinking when Jem is taunted into touching the side of the Radley home by Scout and Dill. The book reads, “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us” (18). From this portion of the novel we can tell that Jem and Scout clearly regarded the Radley home and its occupants with novelty and even fear.

    Read More

  • Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1720 Words  | 7 Pages

    As verbalized by the diarist Anne Frank herself, “‘Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands’” (Goodreads 1). Coming of age is a process depicted through movies and novels through the Bildungsroman plot line. The protagonist, in this form of a plot line, has to face society and its difficulties. The protagonist inclines to have an emotional loss, which triggers the commencement of the journey itself.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Analysis

    1037 Words  | 5 Pages

    To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that takes place during the Great Depression in a small town located in southern Georgia in the 1930s. The book focuses on Jean Louise “Scout” and Jeremy Atticus “Jem” and their coming of age and the major events that made the two grow up. One of the events was the trial of the Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, in which their father, Atticus Finch, was defending Tom, a man of color. Mockingbirds are used throughout the book to represent people that were harmed by the society even though they were innocent. There is a common misinterpretation of the meaning behind the Mockingbird leading many to believe that Scout is the Mockingbird in the story.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age

    380 Words  | 2 Pages

    “To Kill a Mockingbird “is a coming of age novel. Discuss this statement, with reference to at least two characters. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” there is evidence of a coming of age story or lesson. Scout learns not to judge people and try and understand where they are coming from and to view a situation from their point of view.

    Read More

More about Development Of Coming-Of-Age Theme In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Open Document