Similarities Between 'To Kill A Mockingbird And Saul Indian Horse'

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Unfortunate circumstances form children into adults. Scout Finch, an adventurous tomboy from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and Saul Indian Horse, a native boy from Richard Wagamese’s novel Indian Horse, both prove that to overcome challenges you must have faith, resilience, and courage; Scout uses her challenges as learning experiences, but Saul triumphs as he uses his past experiences to mature and develop a new sense of self. For instance, Saul’s superior growth can be proven as he went through hardship early on in life. Overtime, these hardships led to his development of the quality courage. His loss of all sense of familiarity within the story ultimately causes him to fill the void in his heart, which was once overtaken …show more content…

While on this journey, the cold winter wind took her and her soul left her body (Wagamese 22-23). This hardship caused Saul to come to terms with death. He was forced to no longer avoid it, but embrace it. He was required to grasp hold of the courage that his family had implanted within him to continue on to reach the point of adulthood. Unlike Saul, Scout has had little experience with physical death and courage gained from grieving and moving on. The young girl instead has had to grow up with the fear that death approaches suddenly to those who are innocent. The racist community of Maycomb has caused her to see the awful treatment that the blacks are forced to endure. For example, days before Tom Robinson, a black man who was wrongfully committed of rape was put on the stand, several men tried to lynch him (Lee 204-206). This was a defining moment as Scout realized that death is not something that people achieve or deserve, but ultimately fall witness to. Although Scout could not fully comprehend the extent of the men's desired actions, she understood that Tom did not deserve to die and was only threatened as a result of his skin …show more content…

The young girl uses the fear of death to gain courage. Overall, she utilizes the treatment of those around her in order to form herself into a courageous individual. However, when comparing the two children's experiences with death and their courage gained from the experience, Saul’s struggle taught a larger lesson. The young man was forced to no longer rely on anyone but himself and be courageous through all circumstances. Whereas within To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is provided with the comfort of having the ability to fall back on her community for guidance in times of trial. Therefore this does not provide her with any necessary reason to strengthen her courage quality. The next component addresses the fact that surroundings play a large part in the formation of adults. Although situations vary, both Saul and Scout were forced to witness and form opinions on things that are far too complicated for their simple minds, all while challenging their faith. For example, the residential school system forces Saul to fit into the idealistic Christian standards while leaving his native culture and roots

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