At first, the young child is naïve about what goes on in Maycomb County. Besides her ability to read and write, she doesn’t understand complicated issues, such as the rumor of the evil man, Boo Radley.

Later on, Scout lives through experiences that supply her with more insight on matters. She realizes the unfairness of racism towards Tom Robinson after he is killed for helping a white woman. By the end of all this, Jean Finch understands the reality of other people and learns to live with them, as her father Atticus does. Again, the life of Scout demonstrates the maturity of one’s life after living through a “normal” county before our time.

In the beginning of the novel, Scout Finch, a young six-year old, had a childish behavior, as she wasn’t matured about issues in her community. A major instance of how kids like Scout felt about Boo Radley is shown when Jem explains what he believes is true about that man. Like Jem explained, “… [Boo] dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch…there was a long, jagged scar that ran across his face…” (13).

As said before, this clearly represents the fear of Jean Louise Finch and others who are naïve about Boo. Besides the fact that Scout was gullible at her age, she didn’t know many morals, such as keeping her hands to herself and not taking things that didn’t belong to her. When Scout found a stick of gum in a tree, she said, “[t]he gum looked fresh. I sniffed it and it smelled all right. I licked it and waited for a while. When I did not die, I crammed it into my mouth: Wrigley’s Double-Mint” (33).

Scout didn’t realize what germs the stick of gum could’ve have contained at her age. Until Jem scolded her for taking gum, she had a better idea of the difference from right and wrong. So, Scout may have known more than most of the children in her class, but she still had the child-like mind.

After time, there was the fire incident along with meeting Mrs. Dubose for Scout. Due to the blazing fire in the wintertime, Miss Maudie’s house was burned to ashes. When Scout asked her why she wasn’t upset about her lost home, Miss Maudie answered, “[d]on’t you worry about me…there are ways of doing things you don’t know about. Why, I’ll build me a little house and take me a couple of roomers and- gracious, I’ll have the finest yard in Alabama” (73). That moment, Scout learned that there was a way of turning bad things into good ones. Scout used this technique when Jem had to read to Mrs. Dubose, their neighbor, for a month.

As in the text, “I [Scout] picked up a football magazine, found a picture of Dixie Howell, showed it to Jem and said, ‘This looks like you’” (103). What Scout did here was use the same tone as Miss Maudie did when her house burned down. It was a way of cheering up someone nearby by looking on the “bright side” of hopeless situations. In these two events, Scout matured in a particular way, which helped her later on.

Even further in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise Finch developed another stage in her inner self. She learned more about the unfairness of racism and also, doing what she thought was right, which wasn’t exactly what some people thought was the right thing to do. In the case of Tom Robinson, Reverend Sykes and others wondered if the case was appropriate for someone of Scout’s age. After Jem asked Scout if the court session was too “old” for her, she replied, “[i]t most certainly is not. I know every word you’re saying” (209).

From this quote, it simply explains that Scout has reached the point in her life where she could handle the injustice of some situations. In other words, she knew that the verdict wasn’t fair to any extent since Mr. Robinson was only trying to help a white woman. Gaining knowledge of this, Scout also learned how she really wanted to live her life. Comparing her life with Atticus, her role model, and the common women of Maycomb County, she said, “… I was more at home in my father’s world. People like Mr. Heck Tate did not trap you with innocent questions to make fun of you…” (233).

Even though she was fascinated with the world of women, Scout grasped her father’s manner instead. She wanted to live a similar life to the man she could trust, who was her humble father.

In the end of the narrative, Scout had apprehended practically all there was to know in one’s lifetime. An instance of this is when the sheriff tried to explain how Bob Ewell died without mentioning Boo Radley’s name. The sheriff did not want another innocent man like Tom Robinson to die because of discrimination. When Atticus asked Scout if she could understand that Mr. Ewell fell on his knife, Scout made a remarkable reply. She responded, “Well, it’d sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” From this answer given, it was shown that Scout understood that this was related to killing an innocent mockingbird that was only there to make music.

In addition to identifying with this concept, Scout was able to do one other thing. The child was willing to face her fears, who was Boo Radley at first. Before long, she was able to hold his hand and walk the man home. The way she did this was by following her father’s advice. From Scout’s perspective, she said, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” By doing this, Scout’s fantasy of meeting Mr. Arthur Radley became reality. From all she went through, Scout truly matured several states to reach where she is presently.

Scout was able to reach heights in her life rarely like any other. Missing a parent was one of the struggles in her life since she didn’t have the feminine influence than other girls had. But, with an older brother and wise father, she was able to overcome this obstacle. Scout’s personality changed greatly also from racism, peer pressure, and almost being wounded to the point of her death.

A major lesson she learned was that there is no reason to kill a mockingbird, no matter what form that mockingbird may be in. Whether a colored man with a vestigial arm or another man frightened from the presence of people, Scout understood that innocent creatures shouldn’t be bothered, since they mean no harm. Through the strenuous times, Miss Jean Louise Finch triumphed over all she had to go through, just like her loving father.