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Kaylee Heiny
Ms. Cox
English 9 H Period 6
28 October 2015
What Scouts Many Adventures Taught Us
I was about six years old, when my brother told me that if I were to eat a watermelon seed
then a watermelon would grow inside of me. So what do you think I did? Of course I ate as
many watermelon seeds as I could so that I could have watermelon all of the time.
Unfortunately, my brother lied, and I never got any watermelons, but I did learn a valuable
lesson not to trust everything that I hear. This is one of the many lessons that Scout Finch
learned in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Scouts experiences as a child have
played a huge role in creating her identity. Also these traumatic and strange experiences and
how they shape her personality can teach the reader new life lessons. Even though the main
characters, Scout Finch, identity is not set in stone by the end of the novel, the evolution of her
identity throughout her early childhood shows the reader human natures many flaws and it
teaches the reader how handle these flaws.
It may be just the beginning of young Scouts life, but she has already has experienced a
various amount of life-threatening and strange incidents. An example of one of these strange
incidents is when her teacher, Mrs. Caroline, was displeased with her when she expressed her
ability to read in front of the class, which is shown in this quote, Miss Caroline caught me
writing and told me to tell my father to stop teaching me. Besides, she said. We dont write in
first grade, we print. You wont learn to write until youre in third grade, (Lee 21). In school,

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she not only encountered odd rules, but she discovered that her perspective of how all people live
was false. Another strange experience that was actually carried out throughout the entire novel
was of Boo Radley, as Scout would call him. His strange way of communicating with her and her
brother, Jem, and his way of living was very weird compared to the other social townspeople.
One of the most influential events that took place in the novel was Tom Robinsons trial and
because of this event her mind was opened, and she saw the variety of flaws that her perfect
Maycomb possessed. The traumatic Halloween night, where she and her brother were almost
killed, was another event that opened up her mind and matured it. Her terrified tone in this
passage that took place on Halloween, Jem? There was no answer but a mans heavy
breathing. Jem? Jem didnt answer, (Lee 301), allows the reader to draw the conclusion that
something horrible is about to take place, which in turn happened to be an attempted murder.
These different events that have taken place during her life have crafted her identity into what it
becomes towards the end of the novel.
Her personality and identitys change that takes place is mainly driven by the events that
have taken place in her life. Her personality was mostly changed when she realized not to trust
everything that adults or her older brother tells her, which is very similar to my watermelon seed
story. When the townspeople found out that Atticus, Scouts father was going willingly to defend
a colored man against a white man, many of the children in school teased her for this. These
events were just some of the many ways that Scout started to see the flaws of her precious
hometown in Maycomb County. This flaw that she saw was that as soon as someone treated a
colored person the same as a white person, suddenly the people would become judgmental and
unforgiving. This is represented when a child that used to never talk to her and was normally
nice teased her here, He announced in the school-yard the day before that Scout Finchs daddy

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defended n*****s, (Lee 85). Another experience that shaped Scout began when Scout, Jem,
and Dill would come up with an elaborate story as to why their neighbor Boo Radley would not
come out of his house and this was because she was told that he stabbed his dad, and they told
her he was so crazy that his parents would never let him outside. Unfortunately she believed
them. When Boo started to leave gifts for the children in a hole in a tree is when she realized
that he was helping her, actually. She then again realized that Maycombs people were judging
and lying about him, and this revealed another flaw of the county. The largest eye opener
experience that influenced her personality was the trial, and how the jury did not even consider
that Bob Ewell was lying about Tom raping Mayella due to the color of his skin. Also, the scary
and life- threatening moment where Bob Ewell tried to kill Scout and Jem to get his revenge was
another mind blowing event that let the true colors of Maycomb County show. Evidence that
Bob Ewell tried to kill them to get revenge on Atticus is, Somehow, I could think of nothing but
Mr. Bob Ewell saying hed get Atticus if it took the rest of his life. Mr. Ewell almost got him,
and it was the last thing he did, (Lee 306). Scout was affected by helping her realize even more
that all races are equal, and her comprehension of prejudicism completely reshaped her identity.
All of these events together show the concept of losing ones childhood innocence as they start to
see the flaws of human nature. Throughout the novel Scout begins to comprehend these topics
mentioned above, and this leads to her new formed identity and personality.
Her newly crafted identity consists of a variety of characteristics. One of these
characteristics includes understanding of the world around her, though she is only eight years
old. Because of this characteristic, she is always letting her mind soak up all of the knowledge
she can, similar to a sponge. Not only does she understand the way that the world works, she is
academically smart, and her teacher even had to tell her to stop reading so quickly. But, Scout

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could not remember actually learning how to read, and a quote about this is: I never deliberately
learned to read, (Lee 19). She is very knowledgeable as well, but she is very stubborn and will
not always agree with what other people want. This trait is shown when her cousin called her
father a bad name, and she punched him in the face for saying that because she would not
tolerate him talking about her father that way. That example also informs the reader about her
identity of importance of a family name, which is mentioned a lot by her Aunt Alexandra.
Evidence from the text about this trait is stated here: I leaped off the steps and ran down the
catwalk. It was easy to collar Francis. I said take it back quick. Francis jerked loose and sped into
the old kitchen. N*****-lover!(Lee 95). Sometimes the distinctness of her personality from
the other characters in the novel benefits her in some ways, but not always. Her identity can
teach the reader many life lessons too.
As Scouts identity transformed into the person she became at the end of the novel, the
reader learns many life lessons. One of these lessons that is presented throughout the whole
novel is not to become so gullible to the point that you believe every lie that the corrupt human
race claims. She learned this lesson throughout the novel when she realized that the claim that
colored people are completely different from non-colored people was quite untrue, and when she
realized that Boo Radley was completely normal despite what all of the townsmen had to say.
Scout specifically learned the lesson of equality for all races when Tom was completely innocent,
and they convicted him for his skin color. When she had the talk with Mr. Raymond about this
topic, she comprehended it more, and a quote from this conversation is, Cry about the hell
white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that theyre people, too, (Lee
229). This concept can also lead into not judging people by the way that they look or act on the
outside, which is another life lesson mentioned in the novel. Before Scout would judge people

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by their appearance because she fell for the all of the lies and gossip done by the citizens of
Maycomb County. An example of this is when she automatically judged Mr. Raymond because
of his actions of marring a colored woman and drinking out of a brown bag, but it turns out, it
was just soda in the bag and colored people are no less than white people. Evidence of this in
the novel is stated here, You mean all you drink in that sacks Coca-Cola? Just plain CocoCola? Yes maam, (Lee 228). Also, she learns not to judge people when Boo Radley saves
her and spoke to her like a normal person, and that he was not a crazy killer that the townspeople
said. She then realized that the only reason why he doesnt come outside is because he doesnt
want to deal with all of the cruel worlds problems and how humans always find a way to tear
someone down and point out their imperfections. This leads into another lesson that Scout
learned as well as the reader, which is that the world is not always a happy or friendly place. It is
often a corrupt place where people are judgmental, unkind, and not giving. Scout actually talks
about this in this quote: We never put back into the tree what we took out of it; we had given
him nothing, and it made me sad,(Lee 320). Last but not least she learned the lesson of not to
judge the way someone acts, until you can see the world from their perspective. This was
actually one of the main themes of the novel, and she learned this when she stood on the porch of
the Radleys, and she saw the whole storyline switch to Boo Radleys point of view. When she
finally understood all of these topics, her personality began to mature, and her childish innocence
began to fade away.
Scout realized that she had matured from the young child she one was when she leaves
the Radleys porch at the end of the novel and says this, As I made my way home, I felt old
(Lee 320). She matured through her life experiences, and through this she created her new
identity. To carefully craft the setting of the imperfect Maycomb and its characteristics, the

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author chose to tell the story from a childs point of view, so that an unbiased description could
be provided. The description is unbiased because as Scout discovers the issues of her town first
hand, she tells it bluntly and honestly because she has not been able to form an opinion about
certain topics before. Through Scouts bluntness we can learn very valuable lessons about life
and living. Even though some of the events that occurred in Scouts young life were not always
fantastic to experience, they built her identity, and they have been able to teach the reader many
valuable life lessons.

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Works Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. London: Vintage Classics, 2007. Print.

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