Thursday, February 4, 2010
Chapter 30 and 31: How is TKaM viewed as a whole?
The major theme of this book is coming of age. The young little protagonist, Scout, has a blank canvas that is filling as she gets older. All she is trying to do is make out the picture in front of her, and as she matures, it fills in, and the most important things of all she must determine for herself. There are many instances in this book where Scout matures; when she realizes the irony of the Maycomb women, when she realizes Boo Radley is still a person, and when she realizes who is good, and who is actually evil. Scout learns that many things are not as they seem as well. She learns for herself the false conceptions that the people of Maycomb have, which she can only realize because of her trueness. "Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home." How do you think Jem matures in the book? Do you think different people mature differently?
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Everyone matures differently and at different rates. In the novel Scout was already mature mentally (meaning academically) with her being literate at such a young age. Then as she was exposed to the “evils” of the world: Tom Robinson’s Trial, the mob, Bob Ewell, etc. she developed her own points of view and really started to see racism for what it was.
ReplyDeleteA regular person matures by influences around them, just like Scout did in the novel. However, people mature differently because maturity can mean something very different for each person. Also, people gain maturity from experiences and people experience different things.
Jem matured physically and mentally. Earlier on in the book Jem realized how unfair the world could be after Tom Robinson was convicted guilty even though Atticus had presented solid evidence (one mental change). Jem later on pointed out to Scout that he was growing chest hair and went out for the football team (one physical change).
However, Scout definitely matured the most because Harper Lee focused in on the ways Scout changed more than she did on Jem’s changes. A perfect example of this would be that in the final chapters of the book Jem was unconscious. Scout was the one who met Arthur “Boo” Radley and explained what happened under the oak tree and witnessed the intense conversation between Atticus and Mr. Heck Tate. This shows that Scout really is the main focus of the book when it comes to being exposed to the real world and maturing.
Do you think Atticus matures in the novel?
How does Aunt Alexandra’s stay at the Finch house affect her?
I think that Atticus does not necessarily mature in the book but he definitely becomes affected by Maycomb and the injustices that are going on. The kids mention that they see Atticus doing "first" and this shows the breaking down of Atticus in a few situations including the Tom Robinson case. In addition to change, Aunt Alexandra changes at the end as a result of being at the finch's house. Aunt Alexandra's one gift of surprise is when she gives Scout the "un- lady like" clothes. However, these changes seemed to only come at the end. Jem and especially Scout show a gradual yet drastic change over the novel. The theme coming of age is truly applied the children as they grown up in a tough environment. The more experiences the kids had either together or alone, the greater into adulthood they go. It goes from the Boo Radley game all the way to dealing with rape and other huge ideas such as prejudices
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