Examples Of How Scout Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”. This is one of the many lessons Jean Louise Finch or had to learn as she matured throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the novel our main character Scout starts out as a very innocent yet intelligent young girl who slowly matures and understands the world around her due to not only what she is taught by her father Atticus Finch but also her own life experiences. One of the lessons she is taught by Atticus is that you can never judge or understand someone until you have experienced life from their point of view. This is a lesson that Scout fails to understand until near the very end of the book. This is clearly seen by the way she

This is very clearly seen in Scout’s response to Calphurnia after she scolds Scout for questioning Walter Cunningham when he pours an excess of syrup on to his entire dinner. “ He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham”(pg. 33) . In this quote it is seen that Scout does not consider Walter her company but rather considers him as a Cunningham. This means that Scout believes that Walter is less than her and is only there because it is mandatory. This response is a prime example of Scout judging someone without understanding what they are going through. In this case Walter comes from a very poor background where food is scarce so this might be normal to him. After this and other events Scout slowly rises to

“ I saw that, One - Shot Finch!” (pg. 128) In this quote after she witnesses her father shoot a rabid dog almost dead between the eyes she hears Heck Tate the town’s sheriff call her father One - Shot Finch. After some time she finds out from Miss Maudie that Atticus used to be be the deadliest shot in town. This completely changes her view of Atticus because in the beginning Scout thought that Atticus was just a boring lawyer that couldn't do anything exciting like the other kids fathers. This also causes Scout to mature because after seeing that Atticus her own father was much different than what she thought she realizes that people are not actually as nice as she thought or as mean as she originally thought. Although experiences are a very important part of maturing for Scout finally understanding Atticus’s lessons played a just as if not more important role in this