Learning and developing is a part that every child
is destined to go through, and the way you learn determines your success as an
adult later on in life. In the novel To
Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem, Scout, and Dill are main characters that
are slowly developing and stepping into adulthood. Throughout the novel, they’ve
learned about the bitterness of mankind and the cruelty of the real world as
they go through events that have led them to answers and taught them many
lessons.
While Harper Lee addressed many events that showed
the learning and developing of the children, the young characters each had an
occurrence that affected them most. Jem was maturing quicker than the other two
youths and was beginning to see clearly under Atticus’s guiding light. On the
other hand, Scout was starting to behave more like a young lady, under the
influence of Aunt Alexandra. Dill, the most mischievous of them all, had seen
the injustice of racism as he witnesses various scenes.
First of all, the death of Mrs. Dubose impacted the
children, especially Jem. It was the first event that made Jem realize the true
bravery does not only come from men with guns and swords, but the ones that
have the heart and courage to do what’s right. “Overnight, it seemed, Jem had acquired
an alien set of values and was trying to impose them on me.” (131). The change
in Jem has been instant, and impacting; as a reader, it was astonishing to have
known that Jem has changed so much after one day. Even Scout—Jem’s smaller
sister—has noticed the changes in Jem; her preoccupations and thoughts also
show how Harper Lee tries to express Scout’s feelings as an innocent girl who
hasn’t got the slightest clue of what her brother has in mind that has changed
him in such a drastic manner.
Compared to Jem, Scout is more of an
innocent character that represents purity inside children and the innocence
that adults have long forgotten. In some ways, Scout was the one mostly
influenced in this novel, as she witnessed and went through many events that
have changed her as a person; we were able to read her thoughts and understand
the story in her point of view. Of course, being the youngest in the household,
she wasn’t involved in adult conversations—yet she has matured as much as Jem
and Dill, going through many problems that her family faced and learning from
it, especially when she found her aunt distressed by the fact that her father
may be in danger.
“After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like
this, so could I.” (271). When Aunt Alexandra discovered that Tom Robinson was
dead, she was horrified because although she wasn’t particularly fond of
blacks, she was deeply concerned about Atticus’s circumstances and his career. Despite
of the situation they’re in, she put up her straight face and met up with the
other ladies from Maycomb without a hint of sadness or shock. Scout clearly has
matured a lot, being able to say that last sentence in the end of the chapter
and having the will to do it.
Dill has been an unpredictable character, from the beginning
to end. From the beginning, when Dill plotted to make Boo Radley come out of
the house, it was already easy to anticipate that he isn’t a typical obedient
country boy. At first, he only seemed capable of thinking up pranks and ideas
to play practical jokes on someone else, but near the end of the novel, he
expresses his honest ideas.
““I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right, somehow
it ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t got anybody got any business talking
like that—it makes me sick.””(226) It is extremely surprising to have heard
such words coming out of Dill’s mouth. The typical Maycomb folks would not
admit that it isn’t right to treat blacks unequally although they know that it’s
not the right thing to do. Children might have thought that way, being pure as
they are, but Dill has grown to have those thoughts, opposed to at the
beginning, when he was only interested in jokes and pranks.
In spite of all, Harper Lee shows the kids learning
and developing by writing out the events that they face, each earning a lesson
on their own. Thus, the children learned to do what’s right and what isn’t—not
only by lectures but also by real life experiences. Harper Lee is trying to
send a message to the reader; that although many children don’t have to go
through tough times whilst some others have to face them in a daily basis, in
one point, they will have to face some kind of obstacle, and only in experience
and development will they be able to make the right choices for themselves and
their loved ones.
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