How Does Scout Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

Jean Louise (Scout) is the Narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, we see the whole story from her eyes. The book starts off with Scout as a six year old girl who is going into the 1sr grade. By the end of the novel she is in third grade and eight years old. With age comes maturity and Scout is a perfect example of how a character can mature over time.

Scouts age affects the way she views the world around her and her understanding of what is normal. One example of this happening is when scout says, He probably would have poured it into his milk glass had I not asked what the sam hill he was doing…Atticus shook his head at me again. “ But he's gone and drowned his dinner in syrup.” Pg 32 When you're young you think what happens in your house happens

One quote that shows Scouts lack of maturity is when she says, “Don’t you remember me Mr. Cunningham? Im Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts on time, remember?... I go to school with Walter,” I began again. He’s your boy aint he? Ain't he, sir” This quote shows that Scout just realized that she interrupted a mob that was on the way to kill her father and that her friendly neighbors that she sees everyday are easily persuaded to do a awful crime and that the world is not as a happy place as she thought and that there is evil in this world. Later in the story Scout Asks “What’s rape cal?” 127 And a very similar one that talk about the same thing is “well if that’s all it was why did calpurnia dry me up like that when I asked her”(135) Calpurnia does not really tell Scout exactly what rape is during this scene due to the fact that she views her as being too young to understand. When Atticus really does tell her later Scout clearly doesn't fully understand the seriousness of the conversation or topic. If Scout was older she may have been able to understand these situations and make a different