Childhood Beliefs In Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
To Kill a Mockingbird Assignment Essay
Hope Eruabor
ENG2D1
Dr. Picininni
Monday April 29, 2013
To Kill a Mockingbird Assignment Essay
Growing up is what people have had to do through their lifetime. The maturity of people can be based on various experiences they have had. Part of growing up is learning that childhood beliefs are not necessarily true. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird the maturity of different characters are shown especially with the children. Scout, the protagonist, is a prime example of showing that childhood beliefs are altered and maturing through experiences she has had. She feels Atticus is not exciting and she is ashamed of him, but later on realizes that Atticus does a lot of good, and …show more content…
Scout’s upbringing was to be respectful to all those around her, including African-Americans, which is shown through the respect she has for her maid, Calpurnia. It was not until Scout and Jem went with Calpurnia’s Negro church that she first witnessed the division between blacks and whites. Lula, a black church member, said “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our’n” (Lee, 1960, pg. 158). This showed Scout that black and white people did not associate with one another in public places because they lived separately. During the trial Jem was very confident on the evidence Atticus had presented to win the case, but Reverend Skyes said “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in a favor of colored man over a white man…” (Lee, 1960, pg. 279). This showed Scout that regardless of the fact the Tom Robinson was not guilty of the charges faced against him, he would still be convicted as guilty based solely on his race. Through the trial and other experiences Scout was now seeing the prejudice within Maycomb, also seeing that the prejudice goes both ways, which she wasn’t aware of at first. This caused her to see the injustice, and have more knowledge of her town instead of being
Hope Eruabor
ENG2D1
Dr. Picininni
Monday April 29, 2013
To Kill a Mockingbird Assignment Essay
Growing up is what people have had to do through their lifetime. The maturity of people can be based on various experiences they have had. Part of growing up is learning that childhood beliefs are not necessarily true. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird the maturity of different characters are shown especially with the children. Scout, the protagonist, is a prime example of showing that childhood beliefs are altered and maturing through experiences she has had. She feels Atticus is not exciting and she is ashamed of him, but later on realizes that Atticus does a lot of good, and …show more content…
Scout’s upbringing was to be respectful to all those around her, including African-Americans, which is shown through the respect she has for her maid, Calpurnia. It was not until Scout and Jem went with Calpurnia’s Negro church that she first witnessed the division between blacks and whites. Lula, a black church member, said “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our’n” (Lee, 1960, pg. 158). This showed Scout that black and white people did not associate with one another in public places because they lived separately. During the trial Jem was very confident on the evidence Atticus had presented to win the case, but Reverend Skyes said “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in a favor of colored man over a white man…” (Lee, 1960, pg. 279). This showed Scout that regardless of the fact the Tom Robinson was not guilty of the charges faced against him, he would still be convicted as guilty based solely on his race. Through the trial and other experiences Scout was now seeing the prejudice within Maycomb, also seeing that the prejudice goes both ways, which she wasn’t aware of at first. This caused her to see the injustice, and have more knowledge of her town instead of being