To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

Briana Jackson March 1st, 2013
To Kill a Mockingbird – Part I Essay

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a classic bildungsroman novel that depicts a persistent sense of maturity that is distinctive throughout the first part of the story. Maturity can be seen as either an understanding that comes with age, or an understanding that comes with experience. Set in the Deep South during the Great Depression, Jem and Scout Finch learn the real life in Maycomb County as a result of certain events that force them to grow up. In the beginning of the novel, Jem is presented as Scout’s older brother and Atticus’ son. Jem is very juvenile in the first chapter. For example, Jem converses with Stephanie Crawford who tells him gossip about Boo Radley. Jem attempts to “scare” Scout and Dill by telling them “[Boo] dined on any raw squirrels and any cats he could catch”. This makes Scout, Dill and us as readers perceive Boo as some kind of beast. Jem really starts to mature in Chapter 3 when he stops Scout from hurting Walter. Instead of provoking the fight, Jem says “You’re bigger’n he is… let him go, Scout.” This shows that he has a sense of morals because he chose the right thing to do. He also shows maturity when he tells Walter “Come on home to dinner with us… we’d be glad to have you.” This shows the more “grown-up” Jem, rather than the juvenile Jem in the beginning of the novel. In Chapter 7, Jem shows maturity when he “[assures] Scout that the older [she] got the better school would be.” By saying this, Jem gives Scout a feeling of solace and makes her feel like she can rely on him more often. In a nutshell, Jem starts the novel as an immature little boy, but as the story progresses Jem matures and begins to show the wise, responsible side of him.

Throughout Part I of To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout also matures. In Chapter 2, Scout returns to school from summer vacation. By speaking out too much in class, Scout gets whipped by her teacher, Miss Caroline. This shows she doesn’t really care about respecting adults because she didn’t listen after Miss Caroline told her to stop repeatedly. In Chapter 3, Scout shows her juvenile ways when she “[catches] Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard.” She ends up “rubbing his nose in the dirt” to satisfy her. This shows immaturity because she beat him up for no reason. She basically took out her anger on him because she was punished for defending him. Scout really starts to “grow up” in Chapter 9 when she chooses not to fight Cecil Jacobs, an ignorant classmate of hers, when he criticizes her father. She knows she would “let Atticus down” if she fought Cecil so she holds back instead of letting her aggression get ahead of her. This shows that Scout understands that violence isn’t always the answer. It also confirms her maturity in the novel.

Harper Lee’s bildungsroman novel, To Kill A Mockingbird reveals how maturity plays a part in understanding how the world works. Throughout the novel, Jem and Scout maturity is developed by events and decisions they experienced. In Lee's novel it is clear that maturity comes from ones experiences and not the amount of time that has passed in their lives.