Theme Of Maturity In To Kill A Mockingbird

Imagine living in town with no one to talk to because you were the “weird and scary” person. You're all alone only because people have made up their minds about your story. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the 1930s in a town called Maycomb. Boo Radley is a man that lives in this small town, he is seen as the mysterious person and everyone always stays away from him. Scout is a 6 year old girl at the beginning of the story then she grows up to be about 8 years old at the end of the book. Scout lives with her big brother Jem. Dill is their neighbor in the summer. Jem and Scout start by seeing Boo Radley as a monster but grow to see him as a kind human being because they start to mature and learn to empathize with him.

Towards the beginning of the book, Jem gave Scout a description of Boo Radley describing him as a monster and she believed him because she was not very mature and was willing to believe others rather than rely on her own experiences. When Dill wondered what Boo Radley looks like, “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were blood-stained--if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eye popped, and he drooled most of the time” (14). According to Jem, Boo is huge, bloody, and gross. Scout then believed it and enabled her fear about Boo.  Scout probably had an open and vivid imagination. As a little girl you tend to be very gullible, so because of Jem’s picture of Boo Radley she sees him as a person to stay away from.  This is when her fear builds and she gets this one image of Boo. Scout as a young girl hasn’t learnt how to empathize with someone or see the world from more diverse perspectives. 

Scout starts to mature in the book. As that happens she develops more curiosity for Boo Radley, wanting to know more about him. Scout is passing by the Radly house thinking, “The Radley Place had ceased to terrify me, but it was no less gloomy, no less chilly under its great oaks, and no less uninviting. Mr. Nathan Radley could still be seen on a clear day, walking to and from town; we knew Boo was there, for the same old reason-- nobody’d seen him carried out yet. I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse, when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley '' (277). The Radley house is still a scary and dark place but Scout regrets her decision for tormenting them. Scout thinks the house is still a gloomy and scary place but her views on how she treated someone has changed. She started to empathize when she said “I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse… been sheer torment to Arthur Radley”. This shows signs of maturing. She is now willing to take in new information even without this prior knowledge of the person  . Her fear turns into curiosity pointing that she is growing. She is starting to realize there is more to that man. Seeing this into a different perspective shows a lot about a person. She is now starting to learn and understand to empathize with someone and owning up that she’s done something wrong to them. 

When Jem gets attacked by Mr. Ewell, Boo saves him and returns him home safely and by that time Scout understands Boo better and finds him to be a person of good character. Scout is on the porch of Boo Radley’s house after taking him home. “We came to the street light on the corner… we had given him nothing, and it made me sad” (320). Scout is feeling upset that after all this time she relied on an unfair bias and treated Boo poorly when he was their neighbor. This proves her thinking that there is more to Boo than a huge guy with a scar. Scout is upset because she describes neighbors as people who you can rely on to bring you the things you need in the bad times. Boo was her neighbor and her family has done nothing. After this happens is where she finally learns two important life lessons, to be more open minded and to always treat people the right way. This also ties in with how people shouldn’t be so quick to judge others by their appearances. Scout not only changes her outlook on Boo but also the entire town. 

Jem and Scout look at Boo Radley as the villain but grow to see him as a friendly human being because they start to mature and empathize with him more. Jem told Scout what Boo Radley “looks like”, she trusted Jem and started to look at him as the threat. As Scout starts to grow during the book she finds more of an interest to find out who he is and make up her own mind. Boo Radley saves Jem from Mr. Ewell, this is when Scout changed her mind and found Boo to be a good person. Everything that is going on in the world with racism relates to this topic. Scout struggled with looking at someone's appearance and immediately deciding the person they are. This is going on in the present day, people look at other’s skin color or other external characteristics and begin to stereotype. Scout started to do this but then learned her initial judgement was unfair about Boo. The hope is that society also learns this lesson in its fight against discrimination.