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Mariame. Sylla

Mr. O’meara

Freshman English

25 March, 2019

To Kill a Mockingbird Draft 3

Freshman Year Writing

Sometimes when a child is exposed to adult situations, it causes their perception on life

to change. Young children do not no any better but to question the world around them because of

how innocent they are. A great author once said, “For children are innocent and love justice;

while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy” (G. K. Chesterton, 1922). According to

Chesterton, children know not of what they are doing because of their undeveloped mind and

they have made no mistakes in life because they do not know what is happening half the time.

On the other hand, adults know more about the world and the are more aware of the

consequences that happens by doing an evil act. Because of adults having more experience in

life, they are able to forgive others easily unlike children who will demand justice because they

do not have much experience with life. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Helen Keller tells us

a story about a five year old girl named Jean Louise Finch that is an innocent young girl but is

exposed to adult situations that help her understand the world around her and ultimately change

her perception of others. The characterization of Scout helps reveals the theme, dilemma’s

corrupt innocence. Throughout the book, Scout’s strongest traits are her intelligence, innocence,
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and curiosity Jem and Scout have just meet Ms.Stephanie's nephew, Dill; has said that he knows

how to read and he is very young, and Jem says that scout has been reading ever since she was

born. “Scout younder’s been readin’ ever since she was born, and she ain’t even start school

yet”(8). This shows how Scout values dedication. Many children at scout’s age would prefer to

run around and play and not do any work, but Scout has chosen to sit down and learn how read

even though she knows that she can be doing other things that would be very enjoyable to her.

Scout is a very hardworking person and she is not like most kids, because she chooses to do

something that she does no love, but will help her in her adulthood. Scout shows her value of

dedication by reading and writing when she could be doing other things, but she is dedicated to

her education , she chooses to read because it is something that she always knew how to do and

reading comes very naturally to her. The impact of this principle is that Scout will later on get

very smart and have a good paying job because she is learning very complicated things for a

child at such a young age. Scout has just started school, she is in class and Ms.Caroline calls

Scout to read the alphabet aloud. After Scout is done reading the alphabet, Ms.Caroline and

made her read some passages and finds out that Scout is very fluent in reading.“I suppose she

chose me because she knew my name; as I read the alphabet a faint line appeared between her

eyebrows, and after making me read most of My First Reader and the stock-market quotations

from the Mobile Register aloud, she discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more

than faint distaste”(22). Ms. Caroline does not like the fact that Scout is moving at a faster pace

that the rest of the children, because it will make her job harder. Ms. Caroline wants to teach the

kids the way she was taught to in college, and with scout knowing how to read at an advanced
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level, it challenges her job as a teacher. In the quote, “...she discovered that I was literate and

looked at me with more than faint distaste”, shows that Ms.Caroline does not like that Scout is at

a higher level of education than the other children are in the class. Scout values staying to

herself, because she does not talk to anyone in the class and sits quietly in her seat when

Ms.Caroline calls on her to read. Scout has a principle of humbleness because, throughout the

book, Scout never boasts about how she knows how to read at a young age and how she is the

smartest person in her class. Calpurnia teaches Scout how to read and write to stop her from

bothering her in the kitchen. Calpurnia also rewards scout afterwards, so that Scout looks

forward to getting something after all of the teachings which will keep her focused. “She would

set me a writing task by scrawling the alphabet firmly across the top of a tablet, then copying out

a chapter of the Bible beneath. If I reproduced her penmanship satisfactory, she rewarded me

with an open-faced sandwich of bread and butter and sugar”(Lee 24). In the quote, “(...She

rewarded me with an open-faced sandwich of bread and butter and sugar”, reveals that scout

values . Scout has a principle for following orders from adults that she trust, because throughout

the book, when Scout is told to do something by an adult, she chooses to follow it especially

when Atticus is the Adult that gives her orders, because Atticus is her Father and she does not

want to make him disappointed in her. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the symbolic

meaning of the knot-hole as companionship serves to reveal the theme, knowledge reveals

companionship. In the novel, the knot-hole is on an Oak tree in the Radley lot, and is used as a

communication tool between Arthur Radley and Jem and Scout. One Afternoon, Scout was

running home from school when she saw something interesting in the knot-hole. “Some Tin Foil
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was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun. I stood

on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of

chewing gum minus their outer wrappers.”(Lee 44). This is Arthur’s first attempt to

communicate with scout by leaving gum in the knot-hole. Curiosity gets the better of Scout and

she chooses to take the gum from the knot-hole. The knot-hole is the only thing on the Radley

house that Jem and Scout seem not to be scared of resulting in why Scout is not scared when she

meets Arthur for the first time. Jem and Scout have written a letter to the person that has been

leaving all of the objects for them in the knot-hole, but they are surprised to see that the

knot-hole has been sealed. “Someone had filled in our knot-hole with cement. Don’t you cry,

now, scout… don’t cry now, don’t you worry- he muttered at me all the way to school”(Lee 83)

This Quote shows the last encounter with Scout and Jem and the knot-hole. Jem and Scout had

made stopping by the knot-hole part of their daily routine which showed how much they enjoyed

looking into the knot-hole and seeing what treasures lied for them. “... Don’t you cry, now,

Scout… don’t cry now, don’t you worry..” In this part of the quote, Jem is attempting to make

Scout feel better, this shows how important the knot-hole meant to Scout and how she is very

found of it because she makes it a daily routine to check what is inside the knot-hole. “Someone

has filled in our knot-hole with cement” , Scout refers to the knot-hole as “ours” which shows

that she and Jem have claimed the knot-hole as their own because of how fond they are of the

things that are placed in the knot-hole. Unfortunately, Boo's brother, Nathan, fills the knothole in

with cement and lies to Jem by telling him that the tree is dying.The curiosity that Scout had

about the knot-hole lead to the companionship that she and Arthur Radley later poses. When
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Scout and Jem are being attacked by Mr.Ewell's, Arthur saves them because of the

companionship he has acquired with Jem and Scout. Arthur was curious about the children so, he

left trinkets in the knot-hole to see if the children would be fond of it. When they where, Arthur

started to add more interesting objects for the children to enjoy. When Scout meets Arthur for the

first time, she is not scared for him because she knows that he has left those objects in the

knot-hole for them and that he saved her and Jem’s lives. Immediately after the knot-hole is

sealed, there is terrible winter in Maycomb which is a reference to the loneliness that Arthur

feels now that the knot-hole is sealed and there is no way for him to communicate with Scout and

Jem. Scout had courage when she looked through the knot-hole in the Radely lot, the courage

that Scout had lead to a friendship between her and Arthur Radley. Over the course of the novel,

Scout deals with many things that challenges her innocence. Both Scout and Jem learn about

courage and become more aware of what is really going on in Maycomb. Scout learns that there

is nothing to about Arthur Radley that is fearful. As Scout stands on the Radley porch, she

reflects on something that Atticus said that relates to what is happening now. “Atticus was right.

One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in

them” (Lee 374). Scout is beginning to understand things that she did not understand before

because she is getting older and starting to understand things from someone else’s point of view.

Scout reminds the reader what it was like for a child to not know what is happening but later on

realizing that all of the events that happened are all tied together. The symbolism of the knot-hole

representing companionship and the characterization of Scout helps reveal the theme, courage
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reveals companionship. Scout’s understanding and perceptions of the world shift after her new

profound friendship between her and Arthur Radley which help support the theme.

Works Cited

Chesterton, K.G, “On Household Gods and Goblins”,