Coming of Age in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

Everyone goes through different changes as they grow up. Maturing, coming of age, and doing the right thing are important themes in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. This theme is most often seen in the character Jeremy “Jem” Finch. He portrays this theme when he begins to enter puberty and becomes a young man. Jeremy starts to become more independent, wiser and more able to comprehend adult situations; Jem begins to get a better grasp on things. Other characters that demonstrate this theme are Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Arthur “Boo” Radley. Harper Lee shows how Scout comes of age in similar ways to Jem. Scout begins to grow up and become more tolerant of others by “putting herself in another person’s skin”. Boo displays his “coming of age” in a somewhat different way than Jem and Scout. There’s a scene in To Kill A Mockingbird where Boo has the chance to do the right thing by putting himself in harm’s way in order to save lives, and he takes the chance. To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that is overflowing with the theme “coming of age” (whether it is shown through the main character or others). This theme is important to the story because these characters are a small example of the changes that Maycomb needs to undergo. Jeremy Finch is the character in which this theme is most represented in.
At the start of Part Two, Jem starts to grow to be a more mature person and develop a want for wisdom and knowledge. “In addition to Jem’s newly developed characteristics, he had acquired a maddening air of wisdom.” (116) In this quote, Calpurnia is speaking to Scout letting her know that the reason for Jem’s sudden changes is that he is growing up and is almost a young man. Jem is beginning to mature mentally. Jem wants to become more ...

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...aycomb, two people died in this novel. Bob Ewell and Tim Robinson. Both men died due to a chain of event leading from the court case which was based upon racism. Although it was different from the rest of the characters, Arthur Radley had his own way of maturing and doing the right thing.
What then can we learn from Scout, Jem, and Boo? That sometimes to understand things better or to do what’s right we need to become more mature. Boo shows that maturing to do what is right is something that Maycomb needs to do in order to save lives the way he did. Scout supports this idea by learning from Atticus and walking around in Boo’s skin and completely understanding his reasoning for his actions. Think of the last time you made a harsh or crude judgment upon someone, trying being a little more mature and put yourself in their skin; maybe you would have done the same thing.