TKAM

When did you first realize that you were going to grow up? For some of us, we can recall a specific instance in which we learned this truth, while others simply had a feeling. Whichever way, every child eventually knows that he has to grow up.

Growing up is an experience everyone is able to relate to. Every adult remembers the joys and sorrows of being a child as well as the hardships of coming of age. Because everyone can relate to this, many authors use ‘coming of age’ as a major theme in their books. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a classic example. In fact, Harper Lee’s use of the theme of coming is much of what makes To Kill a Mockingbird the classic that it is. All in one book, Lee skillfully captured the nature of a child, the giving up of childish ways, and the destruction of a child’s innocence as he grows up.

In order to come of age, you must first be a child. This may seem an obvious statement, but in order to portray someone as growing up, he must first be introduced as child. Harper Lee understood this. At the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, Jem, and Dill are children. They think like children, they act like children, they speak like children. Lee clearly understood how children act, and incorporated that knowledge into her writing. For instance, Lee knew that children have astounding imaginations. Scout describes their first summer with Dill: “Routine contentment was: improving our treehouse that rested between giant twin Chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, and running though our list of dramas based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs (p 8).” Scout, Jem, and Dill all had fabulous imaginations and used them regularly by play-acting. Dill especially was ...

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...’s innocence is being challenged and will eventually be overcome when she has fully come of age.

Harper Lee’s skill in portraying Scout, Jem, and Dill as children, then illustrating how they begin to come of age, and displaying the horrible loss of their innocence, played a huge role in making To Kill a Mockingbird the classic story that it is. By using the theme of coming of age, Lee was able to create characters that readers would fall in love with and relate to. Everyone grows up, and everyone remembers what it was like. Though coming of age is good, a person’s childhood is a precious time. It is then that the imagination runs free; it is then that people are free from worry. It is there that a picture for believers can be found in a child’s trust and innocence. Believers should strive to be like the little ones, trusting and depending on God for all they need.