To Kill A Mockingbird Coming of Age Essay Sample

Maturity comes with experiences. You have to have knowledge in order to make well thought out decisions. Coming of age is when a person becomes established, which can happen at any age with the right actions. For example, in the case of Scout Finch from Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, applies to this. Scout is a younger kid who begins with a selfish and childish mindset, she doesn’t understand the world around her. After the verdict of the trial, Scout realizes that people aren’t always who they seem to be and that the world isn’t black and white.  Her character grows and changes as she learns through experience and through actions of others as well as herself. 

Before the coming of age moment, Scout demonstrates typical immaturity. She thought with a childish and selfish point of view. She was naive to the world and didn’t understand. Scout demonstrates close-minded thinking when she talks about Radley Place. She describes it as a cold dark place and “inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (10). The town is also feeding into her immature thoughts because “ when the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events, … people still looked at the Radley Place” (10). Scout listens to what people tell her and she will judge people based on rumors about them. She is childish in her thinking by listening and believing everything people said about the people in their town. Then, Scout displays selfishness in her actions towards others. She was yelled at by a teacher and when the teacher broke down crying, the only thing Scout thought about it was that if her “conduct had been more friendly towards [her, she] would have felt sorry for her” (29). Scout has a childish mindset that when someone does anything that she doesn’t like, she doesn’t have to help them. Her teacher had been attempting to do her job in a town that was very different from where she had taught before, both Scout and Miss.Caroline were learning about the town and the people. When Ms.Caroline had an issue, Scout refused to help and comfort her out of pride and selfishness. 

Scout learns respect after her coming of age moment. She learns more about the world and that people aren’t always how they appear to be.Throughout the novel, she adopts more of her fathers morals and ideas. Scout began the novel viewing the world through a childish lens, she heard rumors of the Radley’s and she decided that the house was an eerie place with a monster living in it. After the trial, she learned of the world and the “Radley Place ceased to terrify [her], but it was no less gloomy, no less chilly under its great oaks, and no less uninviting” (324). Scout still recognizes that the house is the same as it has been all her life, she has grown accustomed to it and learned that it is just a house. She no longer has a fear of a house or the people in it because she learned that the world isn’t always a simple place that's either sad or happy. Scout and Jem were walking home and were attacked by someone who held a grudge against their family. During this incident, someone helped to save them even though it wouldn’t benefit them. This person was Boo Radley. As Scout was recovering from the incident, she looked at him as he hid in the corner, but “as [she] gazed at him in wonder, the tension slowly drained from his face. His lips parted into a timid smile, and [their] neighbor's image blurred with [her] sudden tears” (362). Scout realized at this moment that Boo Radley was the same as her, and he was a person who was afraid. She learned and understood the surrounding people, she was trying to change her own opinion and learn rather than assume. She took new knowledge and facts and changed her opinion of her neighbor. This happens multiple times in the novel when Scout meets someone and realizes that the rumors are not always true. 

Having certain experiences will help to reach maturity and “come of age”. Scout learns throughout the book, and she learns that you can’t judge people by the rumors about them and that life isn’t always easy. Scout changes her opinions on people and changes her perspective on the town she lives in , and the world around her. She comes to recognize that we are defined by our actions, and we are shaped by the actions of others. The choices that people make define the kind of person they are. Boo Radley chose to save the kids even though he had never talked to them, Bob Ewell tried to kill 2 little kids because he didn’t like their father, and Scout learned through all these events that people are not always how they appear to be.