How Does Lee Present Scout's Development In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the beginning of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, a young, innocent, idealistic girl who looks at the world as her playground has a number of experiences that change the way she views her society. One major pivotal moment in her development is when she is confronted by her teacher’s denouncement of Adolf Hitler. Her realization that people are not split into just good and evil leads to a shift in her thinking, when she understands that her teacher’s double standards are a reflection of a part of her society that is blind to their own hypocrisy. Scout’s moral and psychological development throughout the novel moves her past her innocence so that by the end of the novel, she is able to step in other people’s shoes in order to view the world from the perspective of others, a fundamental theme that resonates throughout the novel.
Before the decisive day in her classroom, Scout was a naive girl without a care in the world. She frolics around with Jem and Dill, and spends her summers reenacting various legends in her town’s urban history. She

She barges into a group of men who were threatening her father and makes a conversation with them, and feels that it “was too good to miss. [She] broke away from jem and ran as fast as [she] could to Atticus” (202). At the time, she thought she was going to be watching someone get beat up, and was excited about it. Her lack of self control shows through when she dashes into the middle of the crowd, happy to witness a fight. Although her intentions were good, she does not put any thought into the possible consequences of her actions. This is a very immature thing to do, and she shows that she cannot handle the stress of that day’s events when she goes home and breaks down,