To Kill a Mockingbird
By: regina • Essay • 1,089 Words • November 14, 2009 • 919 Views
Essay title: To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Scout the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird lets the readers see through her eyes how Maycomb County really is and the behaviors of adults. In most of the chapters of the book Scout changes ages. And with Scout changing ages Harper Lee, the author of the book, shows her growth and how she begins to understand more about life and all the lessons her dad teaches her. Scout as the narrator of the novel opens the eyes of Maycomb County and she makes the readers have a better understanding of how people in that time period react to certain issues and conflicts. In the story Maycomb County is a county with many issues. Harper Lee chooses Scout as the narrator for many reasons. One is to let readers see a point of view of a child. Another is to show how they react to conflicts and issues. One of the issues that Scout sees and does not understand is how the county talks about Dolphus Raymond as if he were a bad person and an alcoholic.
Additionally, Scout sees that the people of Maycomb do not take the time to really get to know those people who they talk bad about. In the novel Scout wonders why Dolphus Raymond does not care on how people think he is an alcoholic when in real life he just drinks soda. For example in the novel Scout says to Dolphus Raymond, “Why do you do like you do (200.)” What Scout meant by this was why did he let people talk about him as if he were an alcoholic and he did not do anything about it to prove them wrong. This shows how a little girl understands the issue more than an adult in Maycomb County.
Another issue that Scout saw and could not describe was in the book Scout said “How could she hate Hitler so bad and than turn around and be ugly about folks right at home (247.)” She saw that Miss Gates had talked bad about the case of Tom Robbinson and she said that what Hitler had done with the Jews was bad. This showed how quick Scout picked up with things. She saw the unfairness in the people of Maycomb. To the better understanding of the book this showed that not just only adults understood what was going on but the behaviors and the bad examples they give children. This was another reason why Harper Lee wrote his book and decided to have Scout as the narrator. He would make the readers have a better understanding of the scene and the time period that the book was taking place in.
There were many lessons that Scout learned in this novel. But she was not the only one learning lessons. The author made a better understanding to the reader how each situation was put. What the author was trying to accomplish was give the reader a better understanding of the past time and the lessons a simple child can teach an adult. Atticus the father of Scout also tries to make Scout and her brother Jem understand how to live their life with avoiding issues. Also Harper Lee shows Scout as being an innocent child living in Maycomb and in the novel there were many characters in which some were innocent, they liked to gossip, and friendly. An example of a character was Robert E. Lee Ewell. He showed his bad behavior and was know for how rude he was. Scout knew that her father could handle his situation with calmness and she learned a lesson from her not fighting Bob Ewell but how he handled the situation. Scout as being a little girl understood the drama that was going on in the