Tawagon 1

Gwyneth Tawagon

Advanced Freshman English

Ms.White

9 April 2018

​ A
To Kill A Mockingbird P

“Maturity is not measured by age. It's an attitude built by experience.” - Anonymous. This quote

revolves around how a character's view of the world changes as Scout learns new things. Despite

her age, she experiences through people and their actions and changes to become a better person.

To Kill A Mockingbird​ is a story in an era where the colored and the whites lived in a separate

society where the colored were looked down upon. It revolves around a small family of 3, father

named Atticus, a little boy named Jem and the story narrator, Scout. In this story, Atticus is a

lawyer where he supports a colored man. Because of this, he and his two kids, who also support

what he does, often gets backlashed and criticized for supporting the man, Tom Robinson. In the

neighborhood, there is a hermit named Boo Radley. He is looked down upon because of all the

rumors going around about what he did that made him who he is. Scout believes these stories and

with Jem and Dill snoop around the property. In the story, Scout also seems to be looked down

upon by an aunt for not being girly enough which Scout disapproves of. As the story develops,

Atticus loses the court case and Tom gets sent to prison although he is innocent.Heart broken,

Jem And Scout learn about how not to criticize based on what you hear and see, instead to see in

all points of view .In ​To Kill A Mockingbird​ by Harper Lee, the characterization of Scout and the

symbolism helps to reveal the theme; maturity causes shifts in perspectives.

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At the beginning of the book, Jem shows off Scout’s reading skills to Dill to show him

that Scout is a better person academically. Scout has been reading for a long time and has put in

a lot of effort to keep it up. “ ‘ Scout yonder’s been readn’ since she was born..’ “ (Lee 7).

Through this quote, one can infer that Scout is ahead in reading and is better because she is seen

as academically ahead. The section of the quote that is the most important is, “ since she was

born”. This puts an emphasis in how long she's been reading and explains that at her age, many

can not read at the advanced level that she can which gives a sign of knowledge and maturity.

Scout values knowledge and education. Her passion and hard work are the principles that drive

her to be more experienced at a younger age. In the next quote, Scout gets into an argument with

Cecil, but thinking about what Atticus said,decides not to act on it. “I drew a bead on him,

remembered what atticus had said them dropped my fists and walked away… It was the first

time I ever walked away from a fight.” ( Lee 102) Through this quote, Scout is now thinking

about her actions and acting accordingly by following Atticus’ instructions which presents her

values in family. Her principles of truth and family made her a bigger person by knowing when

to stop. The part “ I remembered what atticus had said then dropped my fists..”, clearly displays

her thinking and change of ways as she starts to listen to Atticus. In the final quote, Scout is

standing in front of the Radley house and thinking about why he seems so distant. “one time he

said you never really know a man until you stood in a man's shoes and walked around in them.”

(Lee 374) Scout reveals that she understands that one cannot judge without first being in their

shoes. We learn that she understands judgement and how it is not ok which in the book is

reflected when she supports colored people despite what others think. The part of the quote that

states, “ you never really know a man until you stood in a man's shoes…” shows how Scout
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seems to change how she views him and thinks about what makes him so distant instead of

judging based on the stories she’s listened to. These support it by showing the active and

progressive growth of Scouts changing mindset and the way she saw others as she increasingly

becomes a responsible person. Her maturing mindset allows her to widen her perspective and see

how others see or feel about the problem.

​In To Kill A Mockingbird,​ the use of Boo Radley as a symbol helps to reveal Scout’s

maturity. One of the two key symbols in Scout’s maturity is Boo Radley. When the quote

happens, Jem is at home resting after the attack. The attack Jem and Scout went through

happened after a school costume party when they were walking home in the dark when they were

jumped by someone who didnt like their family. He only survived because he was saved by an

unknown person which turns out to be Boo Radley. Scout was at Jem’s bedside when she noticed

a figure in the corner,​"I looked from his hands to his sand-Stained Khaki pants; my eyes traveled

to his thin frame to his torn denim shirt His face was as white as his hands but for a shadow on

his jutting chin. His cheeks were thin to hollowness; his mouth was wide;they were shallow,

almost delicate indentations at his temples and his eyes were so colorless I thought he was

blind...His lips Parted into a timid smile, and our neighbors image blurred with my sudden

tears.‘Hey , Boo,’ I said.” (Lee 270) Boo can be seen as an outcome for misjudgement. Through

the quote, Scout sees Boo as more than a superstitious figure and is now making her own

opinions based off her experience of Boo.The part of the quote where she describes him , “I

looked from his hands to his sand-Stained Khaki pants; my eyes traveled to his thin frame to his

torn denim shirt... his eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind”, is important because Scout

gets to see Boo outside of the rumors she's been hearing. Scout now gets the chance to see Boo
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for who he really is. This fits the theme because it shows how she views people as she grows up

and how she matures and sees people as who they are. The next quote shows the symbol of Tom

Robinson. In this quote, Judge Taylor is making the final decision creating the climax of the

story. “I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘ Guilty… guilty… guilty…’ I peeked

at Jem: His hands were white from gripping the balcony rail and his shoulders jerked as if each

‘guilty’ was a separate stab between them” (Lee, 240) . Tom symbolizes clouded judgement

and how it can negatively affect someone. He serves as a wakeup call to Scout of how not

changing their point of view can and has lead to Tom’s inevitable mistrial, which will further

drive her to become the bigger person. The most important section of the quote is, “

Guilty...Guilty...guilty…” as it repeats, it revealed an ending he didn’t deserve. Tom getting sent

to jail , regardless of his innocence, will become an incentive to become the better person. Scout

experiencing miss judgudgement shows her how it could negatively affect an innocent person as

it did to Tom.

The symbolism of Boo,the sentence of Tom,values and, principals build up experience

and change of actions that will drive Scout into maturity by shifting her perspective. Scout sees

the innocence in people whom have been hurt by misconceptions. Through the actions of others

one can learn that “Maturity was not measure by age. Its an attitude built on experience” as seen

by Scout’s changing views. Despite her age, her values and principals drove her to do what is

right. This in turn makes her into a more mature person than she was portrayed as in the

beginning of the book.

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Works Cited

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York :Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006

Date accessed; Jan. 11, 2018