Sunday, December 4, 2011

What items best represent things Scout would use or cherish in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird? How are the items connected to Scout?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, we learn a great deal about Scout's interests and belongings, and these tell us a great deal about her character and character development.

In the very first chapter, we learn that Scout is precocious enough to know how to read even though she has not yet started school. In the second chapter, Scout astonishes her teacher by being able to read the alphabet, "most of My First Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register." However, rather than being praised for her precociousness, Scout is told not to read any more because she is learning incorrectly. It's at this point in the story that we learn just how much Scout values reading; she values it so much that it has become a part of her daily existence:



Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing. (Ch. 2)



Reading is a part of her daily existence because she spends time with her father, curled up in his lap, reading whatever he is reading. Hence, one object that Scout cherishes is books, and books symbolize both her love for her father and her love of knowledge, just as her father loves knowledge.

By Chapter 9, we begin to see the extent to which Scout is a tomboy. Due her tomboyish nature, she prefers spending time with boys, like Jem and Dill, and is even physically aggressive, as seen in the fact that she is constantly picking physical fights with boys. In addition, we learn that she prefers to wear overalls, something her Aunt Alexandra strongly objects to. In Chapter 9, Scout narrates a continual argument she has with her aunt about Scout's boyish behavior. According to Scout, Aunt Alexandra tells Scout she "could not possibly hope to be a lady if [she] wore breeches" (Ch. 9). When Scout retorts that she "could do nothing in a dress," her Aunt Alexandra reminds her that Scout "wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants" (Ch. 9). Based on this dialogue, we know that another item Scout values is her overalls. By wearing her overalls, she demonstrates her stubbornness, rebelliousness, and her desires to be her own person.

However, later, due to the influences of Calpurnia, Miss Maudie, and Aunt Alexandra, Scout does grow accustomed to the idea of growing to be a lady. She reaches her decision that she can be a lady soon after the trial when, during Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle meeting, she witnesses her aunt and Miss Maudie act very bravely in the face of the bad news that Tom Robinson had been shot to death. As Scout phrases it, "After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I" (Ch. 24). Since, on that day, Scout is dressed in her best "pink Sunday dress, shoes, and a petticoat," we can say that these are also items of importance to Scout and represent her maturity.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What are hearing tests?

Indications and Procedures Hearing tests are done to establish the presence, type, and sever...