Examples Of Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

Coming of Age Every person goes through a stage of growing up. During this stage, bad choices are made, emotions are out of whack, and obliviousness is a common thing. Older people sometimes forget what it is like to go through this, and question why the younger crowd makes some of the decisions that they do. What they also forget is that it takes experience, and listening to other people’s points of view to be able to be the person they are today. Coming-of-age involves recognizing different perspectives. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is an example of a character whose coming-of-age process involves gaining a different perspective. All of Scout’s life, she is told that blacks are not as good as whites. It takes a visit to her cook Calpurnia’s church, and other series of events for Scout to realize the
While the Reverend of Calpurnia’s church is praying on behalf of everyone, Scout “didn’t believe it… Reverend Sykes then called on the Lord to bless the sick and suffering, a procedure no different from our church practice” (Lee 161). Scout does not realize how similar the practices of religion are between blacks and whites until she experiences it first hand. She does not know that blacks are not all that different from whites to begin with, aside from skin color. After an argument Scout has with her Aunt Alexandra about a specific child’s quality of life, Jem, Scout’s brother, attempts to cheer her up by telling her about the people around them. After carefully listening to what Jem had to say about the beliefs, and practices of specific people, Scout claims “I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in his house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 304). Because Jem starts to discuss the way of certain people, and the reasons