John-Nicholas Furst

Ms. Hallinan
H. Intro 2 Lit - C Block
10 May 2006
TKAM Final Draft
Scout as the Narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird

Scout, the eight year old narrator of To Kill a Mocking Bird, summed up her view on

society in the simplest and most elegant way : “I think there’s just one kind of folks.

Folks”(227). This heartfelt statement comes from a little girl who is consistent within herself, but

is not at all consistent with the racially prejudiced society in which she lives. How much does an

eight year old know about prejudice? In To Kill a Mockingbird, a book by Harper Lee, one sees

that a child can see what many adults cannot. This story is told from the eyes of a young girl,

who goes by Scout. She is a tomboy, which is one of the reasons she uses the name Scout. She

has never really felt very-lady like, or felt that wearing dresses was right for her, although

wearing dresses was norm for the 1930’s. She is very smart, which comes from her father who is

a hard working lawyer. Scout has an independent mind that allows her to see and act on what she

thinks is right and wrong. Scout’s characteristics have a strong affect on the reader, because

through her narration of the story the reader can see her kind nature, innocent child perspective,

and family influences.

Scout’s characteristic kind nature comes through in how she treats other people. Even

after Scout experiences the traumatic event of hearing her brother Jem is alive after nearly being

killed by an angry man, Scout’s kind nature allows her to focus on helping another person.

Arthur Radley, who had been a recluse for many years, asks Scout, with a very quiet childlike

voice, to walk him home after he had summoned every bit of courage he had to leave his house

to help her and her brother when they were in trouble. Scout thought about what her busy-body

neighbor, Miss Stephanie Crawford, would think when she walked Mr. Radley home. “…She
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would see Arthur Radley escorting me down the sidewalk, as any gentlemen would do” (278).

Scout’s kind nature makes her think that Mr. Radley, who had not been out of his house for many

years, would appreciate her companionship. Scout realized that she should help him in

something he had very little experience with. Scout was pleased with the idea that she could help

Mr. Radley with his fear of being outside of his house. Only someone so kind could respond to

another person’s need when most people would be completely consumed with the more

immediate concern of an injured brother. The reader is taken with not only Scout’s kindness, but

her child’s perspective on life.

Scout’s childlike perspective allowed her to act without the fears and concerns an adult

would have. It had been a very serious moment when the angry Cunningham mob had come to

lynch Tom Robinson, the black man Scout’s father had been defending in the alleged rape of a

white woman. Her father, Atticus, had been standing guard at the jailhouse because he feared a

lynching might occur. He tried to keep the lynch mob from entering the jail but he was out-

numbered. Scout childishly ran from a hiding spot where she had been observing the angry mob

getting ready to lynch Tom Robinson, right into the midst of the angry mob to be with her father

as he tried to hold back the mob. Once Scout was next to her father she realized she knew many

of the men in the mob. She saw Mr. Cunningham and she said for him to say “hey” to his son,

with whom she went to school. Once Mr. Cunningham started thinking of his family he realized

this was not the right thing to do and he dispersed the angry mob. Scout said later that night “The

meaning of the night’s events hit me and I began crying” (136). One sees Scout’s childish

perspective because if she had been older, she would have grasped what was happening earlier

and likely acted less impulsively in the lynch mob situation. She possibly saved both Atticus’ and

Tom’s lives that night by her childish act of running into the middle of an angry mob and through
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her innocent conversation calming them down. Scout’s bold actions are matched with Scout’s

bold opinions for the 1930’s, which are based on her strong family influences.

As Scout continues to narrate the story the reader sees and feels Scout’s values and point

of view, which are a product of her family’s value system. An example of this is when Atticus

talks to both Jem and Scout. He talks about the common racism of white men. Atticus is one of

the few men of the South who really understands racism, and why it makes no sense and sees

that it is not fair. In one of these family discussions Atticus’ son Jem states he just cannot see

how the jury could have convicted Tom Robinson of rape. Atticus states: ‘“You couldn’t, but

they could and did.…whenever a white man cheats a black man, no matter who he is, how rich

he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash’” (220). Because Atticus tells

Jem and Scout how bad racism is, he helped them form early opinions that racism is bad.

Whatever he tells them, they believe, because that is what children do during their early years.

Atticus is knowledgeable and broadminded when it comes to those kinds of issues and topics.

The views that Scout has affect how the reader sees an event. Scout and Jem don’t have

prejudices, which is very uncommon for that time period in the South, and that is because

Atticus instills in them that prejudice is a very ugly thing.

Throughout the book the reader is strongly affected by Scout’s kind nature, childish

perspective, and family influences. In the 1930’s, Southern society was strictly divided along

racial lines. It was difficult for anyone to step out of the practice of racial prejudice, but because

her personal character, openness of youth, and broad minded upbringing, Scout was able to

overcome the prejudiced conventions of the times. Through To Kill a Mockingbird, the events

that really went on in the South are exposed for what they were. It showed what the problems

were during that time period. Only if one knows what really is going on can one address an issue.