Scout's Maturity

Scout's Maturity

As people grow in life, they mature and change. Scout matures as the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, unfolds. Scout begins as a very juvenile and impertinent character. Throughout the novel, she learns from her own experiences, which give Scout a strong concern for the feelings of others, and begin to help her understand the world.

Scout shows immature behavior at the beginning of the novel. She is very discourteous towards Calpurnia; the cook. Scout suggests to Atticus to have her fired. “ ‘She likes Jem better’n she likes me, anyway,’ I concluded, and suggested that Atticus lose no time in packing her off.”(25). When Scout declares this after Calpurnia punished her, it shows how insensitive and insolent she was being toward Calpurnia. Further instances of Scout’s ingenuousness would be Scout, Jem and Dill’s fear of Arthur Radley, as they consider him a monster and attempt numerous times to catch a glimpse of him. They do not know Arthur Radley, nor have they ever seen him, but still critic him with stories they have heard. They feel endangered by him, and are terrified even to set foot on his property. Scout also had the childish habit of getting into brawls that started by the slightest provocation. When Jem had told Scout to stop confronting Walter Cunningham, he asked why she was fighting him in the first place, Scout only responded with “He didn’t have any lunch”(22). This validates that she did not have a good reason to be hostile toward him and how she does not have the tolerance to understand others.

Scout, however, continues to mature more when learning from her experiences further into the novel. Scout, Jem and Dill are no longer absorbed in joshing Mr.Radley as they have progressed on to new interests. Scout’s assessments of her father were changing due to her deeming her father distinct from the other fathers as he was older and was unable to do anything. However, after Atticus shot the deranged mutt in one attempt and finds that he...

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