Maturation Of Scout
Uploaded by mercuryslayer on Oct 30, 2000
In Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill A Mocking Bird” we see that maturation of some of the characters is clearly evident, particularly Scouts. We see this by the way she acts in front of Miss Maudie, Calpurnia and Mrs. Alexandra Finch.
Beside her father, Scout probably respects and likes the most is Miss Maudie. The two of them have a great relationship and they both love each other very deeply. When Scout first introduces us to Miss Maudie (in chapter 5), she tells us all the nicest things about her. She talks about how much she and Jem trusted Miss Maudie and what a good friend she was. They trusted her because "she never told on them, never played cat-and-mouse with them, and because she was not at all interested in their private lives", (chp. 5, pg. 44-45) unlike most Maycomb people. This is also why Scout respected Miss Maudie so much and why she told her, "Miss Maudie, you are the best lady I know" (pg.45). Miss Maudie always made cakes for Scout, Jem and Dill, and she invited them over to eat them and also to play in her backyard. One summer, Scout spent the whole second half of the summer with Miss Maudie. They sat in the front porch, watched the sunset, talked, took care of Miss Maudie's garden. That's when Scout became very close to Miss Maudie. Basically, Scout admired Miss Maudie. She was her hero.
Calpurnia is a very important character in the novel. Scout has known her her whole life and has basically lived with her, but they weren't that close. Scout never liked Calpurnia very much, mostly because she always complained about her behavior. "She was always ordering her out of the kitchen, asking her why she couldn't behave as well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling her home when she wasn't ready to come. There talking was like battling and one-sided. Calpurina always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side." (pg. 6). Another reason why Scout didn't like Calpurnia is because she made her practice writing. Then, when Scout's teacher in grade one found out that Scout can read and when Scout got in trouble for that, she blamed Calpurnia. At that time, she was too young to understand that Calpurnia only tried to help her and teach her so she would be literate and know more...