Connie

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“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why its’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (pg. 119). Miss Maudie, a neighbor of the Finch’s tell this to Scout, the main character. To Kill a Mockingbird was written in 1960 by Harper Lee and takes place in the South during the depression. To Kill a Mockingbird speaks to many major critiques of any lifestyle, such as prejudice and good and evil. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee develops the theme of growing up and maturing, especially in the characters of Jem and Scout.
When we first meet Jem Finch, we see a quintessential Southern boy. He and his sister, Scout, play outside all summer long with little to worry them. Both are able to read, so they do many plays in the treehouse or make up their own games. When Dill Harris comes for the summer, he has another boy to play with. Dill is more adventurous and careless than Jem, so battles of will happen. “Jem wanted Dill to know once and for all that he wasn’t scared of anything. ‘It’s just that I can’t think of a way to make him come out without him gettin’ us.’ Besides, Jem had his little sister to think of” (pg. 17). Jem makes up a game mocking the Radley's and tries to keep Atticus from finding out, but Atticus gets it out of him with cross examination. The following summer Dill, Jem, and Scout go into the Radley’s back yard to see if they can see Boo, they get shot at, and run. Jem loses his pants while going under the fence. When Jem goes back to get his pants, he finds them mended and folded, sitting on the fence waiting for him.
After Jem gets his pants back, he ...

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...mount of common sense for her age and she knows right from wrong and is not afraid to speak her mind especially when it is the truth.
When Arthur Radley is over at her house the night Jem’s arm was broken, she is very mature in her thinking of how he would want to be treated. She lets him sit in a dark place on the porch since he does not seem to like to be in the spot light. She walks him home even, though she has always been afraid of the Radley place. Scout falls asleep that night telling “‘Atticus, he was real nice…’ ‘Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them’” (pg. 376).
In To Kill a Mockingbird Jem and Scout Finch learn to give up an aspect of their childhood innocence and take a step into the world of adults. They have a loving, honest father who helps them learn the difference between good and evil to the best of their ability.

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