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Post by laurenschuetz on Jul 16, 2016 23:05:18 GMT
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated through the eyes of a young girl named Scout. Unlike the other girls who live in Maycomb, Scout is different in both her social position and in her qualities. Her father Atticus, and her elder brother Jem have influenced her greatly, and are a key component to her personality, morals, and behavior. As a young girl, just five years old, Scout portrays a theme of innocence and the pureness of child hood. Her personality is different from most girls her age. She does not wear dresses and play with flowers, instead she wears overalls and climbs trees with her brother Jem and friend Dill. As for her social identity, Scout is very much a tomboy. She is also very intelligent compared to the other children her age and knows how to read before she starts school. “… She discovered I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste” (Lee 22) Scout’s father has raised her through nurturing, and by allowing her to develop her own individuality and conscience. He hasn't exposed her to the evil in the world and as a result Scout does not always understand human behavior and social expectations. Scout takes after her father and brother's behaviors. She models them in how they respond to situations and how they react to the world. Though she is young and acts immaturely compared to her father and brother, she has a good heart and does her best to please them in the way that she acts and behaves. Through the novel Scout encounters new situations and begins to lose her innocence. With the help of her father, she learns that there is good as well as evil in all of us. “’First of all’ he said, ‘if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…”’ (Lee 39) She displays that she will retain her conscience even in the midst of the evil around her. Scout remains a child throughout the entire novel. However, near the end of the novel Scout practically has the mind of an adult and has developed and displayed her own personality, morals, and behaviors.
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Post by Connor McCarrie on Jul 19, 2016 1:05:15 GMT
I agree with what you said about Scout having the mind of an adult, and she is a lot more mature for girls her age even if she isn't a "lady". For example, she understands that people are people, no matter the color of your skin. I think she developed this wisdom and maturity through her father, if it wasn't for Atticus, she wouldn't be the person that she is. I think she also became mature just because of her personality and how she is calm and collected in tough situations. Even though Scout is very different for a girl her age, she definitely is special in many different ways.
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Post by Ravyn_Bergeman on Jul 21, 2016 20:26:49 GMT
Scout grew up way to fast for a child her age. Her tomboy attitude probably was because she grew up with mostly boys, and the reason she matured quickly was because when some one tries to kill you, or seeing an innocent man sent to his death will make someone grow up in an instant.
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Post by isabellalyda on Jul 27, 2016 4:33:09 GMT
I agree with what everyone is saying. An interesting thing about Scout is that the story is narrated through her eyes. I've come to the conclusion that Harper Lee decided to narrate the story through a young girl's eyes to stress on the idea of child innocence. A lot of what was occurring throughout the novel confused Scout and soon she had many questions. For example, in chapter 11, Scout would follow Jem to read to Mrs. Dubose and often, she would become frightened. She didn't understand why Mrs. Dubose acted the way she did or why she had her "fits", and we as readers didn't know either. At the end of the chapter, Atticus told Jem that Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict, which answered questions that Jem, Scout, and we, as readers, thought about. Harper Lee narrating the novel through the eyes of Scout also brought a sense of mystery to the story.
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Post by torytherit on Jul 31, 2016 16:07:43 GMT
I would agree with all of that with the exception of Atticus nurturing her. I am not saying he in anyway is cold or abandoning of her. However, his particular style of raising Scout is more academic and logical than emotional. She started out young and innocent but as she encounters numerous situations that require her to grow up lose her innocence her father teaches her to deal with it much like a court case, to weigh the good and the bad in someone, to listen and empathize, .and then to judge. The way he raises her seems much more academic than nurturing to me.
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beau
New Member
Posts: 11
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Post by beau on Aug 2, 2016 18:50:52 GMT
I agree with what you said about Scout being exposed to way too much than a girl her age should be exposed to. And with that she has to grow up very fast. I find it amazing how being exposed to the real world can shape and mold even children at such young ages. It can make them see real things and not just what they want to see.
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Post by ariellebakken on Aug 2, 2016 20:08:05 GMT
I agree with most of this with the exception of Scout growing up too fast. While it is true that she saw and experienced some very difficlt things for a chld of her age she reacted to these situations as a child would, with innocence and curiosity, rather than reacting as an adult would. Scout's childhood innocence and curiosity are essential to the novel making its various points against discriminaion and thus it is not a bad thing that Scout is exposed to these difficult things.
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Post by samuellongwell on Aug 12, 2016 20:38:42 GMT
I agree with the fact that Scout is way different than other girls her age, especially in the 1900's. She's always hounded by her aunt to present herself like a lady but that isn't who Scout is. The book rarely mentions her interacting with other females her age so I think she just is a full tomboy. She doesn't believe that she should be neat and tidy.
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Post by jeresabarnett42 on Aug 13, 2016 4:32:40 GMT
Scout's development throughout the story is very interesting to me. Her personality at the start is unique for a girl in that time. She would be described as a tomboy, and resents being called a girl. She is innocent, and maybe even naive. But as she witnesses different things occurring, her mentality develops to the point of where it'd be comparable to that of an adult. This still happens today in some children as well, if they have to face issues growing up.
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Post by isabellajanney on Aug 14, 2016 3:34:48 GMT
I agree. Scout is very different from most other girls her age, but I think this makes her interesting. She is not a follower and doesn't feel the need to conform to societal norms or feel pressured to behave a certain way. When her Aunt Alexandra tries to get her to wear dresses and attend social gatherings with other ladies from the town, Scout is not thrilled about the idea and disagrees with her Aunt on most things. I wonder if Scout's mother were still alive, would Scout still be such a tomboy or would her mom have influenced her to behave differently?
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Post by shaunamackay on Aug 14, 2016 7:12:22 GMT
I agree with everything that you said about Scout's character. But, I also think she was a very mentally strong character for many reasons. For starters, she was smarter than everyone else and her teacher already despised her for it, and if she had a weak character, she would break down and suck up to her teacher. But instead, she kept doing things her own way, unlike most little girls her age. Also, she was constantly made fun of for her father being a "nigger-lover", and she not only had to be strong so that these comments didn't get to her head, but also so that she didn't physically fight everyone who ignorantly insulted her father. Also, I think that the author not only imputer the quote about "putting ourselves into each other's shoes" for the development of Scout's character, but also so that the reader could understand the novel more. To really understand what each character was going through, you had to put yourself in their shoes, and I think Huxley really wanted us to understand that so we could fully understand his novel.
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Post by anikahagen on Aug 15, 2016 3:40:00 GMT
I agree with your analysis of Scout, saying that she is unlike the other girls and is most definitely a tomboy. However, I especially agreed with when you pointed out that toward the end of the novel she has the mind of an adult. In fact, I believe that Scout had a better view of the world than most of the adults around her. She looked at people and saw them as a person who is just like her, not white or black, but as a person. This is how adults today and in this novel need to look at the people in the world.
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Post by bronson on Aug 15, 2016 4:54:12 GMT
I agree with what you said about Scout. She is unlike any of the other girls in the town and disobeys Aunt Alexandria to go do her own thing.
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Post by annastellick on Aug 26, 2016 5:32:21 GMT
I agree with the post and I feel like the understanding of all the characters is important. Not only that, but we also have to understand the time of the book. Both the characters and the rules of history are necessary to know the book.
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Post by andi4life on Aug 27, 2016 19:22:07 GMT
I agree with the post and I feel like the understanding of all the characters is important. Not only that, but we also have to understand the time of the book. Both the characters and the rules of history are necessary to know the book. i agree. The way their mind set was back then was drastically different than how it is now considering how everyone was taught to "look at life" back then.
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