How Does Scout Finch Mature

Words: 406
Pages: 2

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the theme is maturing. A young girl must learn to grow up and break free of her naive childhood to see the cruel world as it really is. At the end of the novel, an almost nine year-old Scout Finch "... made (her) way home, (and) felt very old... As (she) made (her) way home, (Scout) thought Jem and (her) would get grown but there wasn't much else left for (them) to learn…" (148). The children have really matured more from the beginning of the novel to the end. Their innocence has been exposed to the brutality of the world in that time period that was caused by prejudice, injustice, and segregation. In addition, Scout has matured her manners as well as her attitude. She has learned with the help of Aunt Alexandra to be polite even when times are …show more content…
The little girl at the beginning of the novel would have strongly disagreed to go the missionary circle in the first place. Scout's senses kicked in at the end of book and she knew she had to do the polite thing by treating her elders with respect, even if they were rude to Atticus. Furthermore, older Scout, at the end of the novel did not burst with excitement like a child on Christmas when she saw Boo Radley. Instead, she found herself giving Boo tours around the house as if they had been friendly neighbors for a long time. When guiding him outside, Scout had the brilliant idea that "If Stephanie Crawford was watching from her upstairs window, she would see Arthur Radley escorting (Scout) down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would do" (147). Since Miss Stephanie is the town gossip, of course it would spread around town rapidly that Boo Radley had been spotted. He is basically the ghost of Maycomb. Scout would not want his self esteem to be hurt any more since everyone already thinks so lowly of him, because they misjudged