Maturity in The Book to Kill a Mockingbird

A detailed Summary of Maturity in The Book to Kill a Mockingbird

The book To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is considered to be a timeless classic that deals with such sensitive themes such as: prejudice, human dignity, social classes, and maturity. Maturity, that word has a different meaning for all of us. Maturity as I see it is an understanding that comes to people with experience and not age but the two usually seem to go together, but not always. Many people talk about the experiences that Scout goes through and the maturity that she achieves in the book but they don't pay attention to the other characters that "grow up" or mature in the story.

The next most obvious person in the book that drastically matures is Jem. At the beginning of the book Jem is much like Scout in that he has the innocence of a young child. For example Jem tells Scout and Dill various made-up stories about Boo Radley to satisfy his need for excitement in his life and for the childish need to scare Scout and Dill. His immaturity is also mirrored when he makes up a game in which he puts Boo's "... life's history on display for the edification of the neighborhood." After that he shows his lack of being able to control his temper and lack of respect when he destroys Miss Dub

Another of the people that mature in this book by the hands of Scout is the lynching mob that comes to kill Tom Robinson. This is more a realization but can also be considered a maturing. The mob comes to the prison with the direct intention to hang Tom. Atticus is waiting at the prison for any trouble that might arise and threaten his client. When the mob arrives Atticus folds his paper and begins trying to deter the mob from there desired course of action, however, the mob is bent on getting to Tom because of the "mob mentality" that is present. They are not individual people but part of a mob at this point and thus they lack the reasoning of a normal person, so it is no wonder they are so bent on killing Tom. After awhile of Atticus talking to the mob Scout runs out to talk to Atticus. Atticus tries to get her to leave but has no success. Scout then begins to talk to Mr. Cunningham; she talks of how Walter Cunningham is in her class and various other personal subjects with him. In this moment Scout pulls Mr. Cunningham out of the "mob mentality" and back to a reasoning person level. After Scout does this Mr. Cunningham calls off the mob and they all return home. It is kind of amazing that a young girl could, by her innocence, deter a whole mob of men from their course of action, or cause them to mature, look at what they were doing and analyze the consequences.

Later in the book we get to see more of Jem's "turning into a man." During Tom Robinson's trial Jem seems to be the only one that understands where Atticus is going with his questions to the witnesses. Jem realizes that Atticus has proven Tom innocent way before even the adults come to that realization. There is still a little bit of child however in Jem at this point. He can not seem to understand how the jury could find Tom guilty even after his innocence was plainly set out for all to see. His is the naive nature of children, they can not seem to understand prejudice, but neither can a lot of grown people. For prejudice does not come with age, it is not there to bloom as we get older, r

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Approximate Word count = 1404
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English