When you are a child you play games like ‘Mummies and Daddies’, in this novel the children play ‘Boo Radley’. This is another way of how the author presents childhood, childhood is a time when children play and create characters (imagine) in their head. As a child you are curious about things and this is what the children in this story especially Jem are like- “I figure if he’d come out…”.
Another way of how she presents childhood is by writing about the close relationship that the children have with Atticus their father and Calpurnia their nanny/ housekeeper. As children grow up they create a bond between people close to them, whatever kind of relationship they are in. Scout and her brother not only have a close relationship with each other and their father but they also has a very strong relationship with Calpurnia, this bond that they have together is so strong that they see Calpurinia as a motherly figure. “Calpurnia bent down and kissed me”- this quotation shows us Calpurnia also sees them as if they were her own children and because Scout accepted this kiss from Calpurnia, she also sees her as a mother. Not only does Lee just tell us that Calpurnia is a nanny but she uses it to present childhood by telling and letting us know that as a child you need a parental figure whether it be a biological parent or a person very close to the child. We know that when you are a child you need a person to look up to and the most obvious person or people we can look up to are our parents.
Childhood is very much linked with education in this story, as Scout grows up she learns a lot, she learns a lot of things from not only the people she lives with but also at school. Harper Lee presents education in a number of ways. Learning discipline is one way of how she presents this theme; this is also linked with childhood as when you are a child you are taught how to behave by people at home and by people at school. Discipline is taught to every child from the day they are first brought into the world. Scout is also disciplined in school by her teacher when she gets punished, “Miss Caroline picked up her ruler, gave me half a dozen pats, then told me to stand in the corner.” Another thing that is linked with childhood in the way Lee has presented education is the relationship that a child had with her teacher, during chapter two the teacher learns more from the children. Miss Caroline learns about the types of stereotypes that people are in. in the town of Maycomb. Harper Lee has shown us that education is very important to some people in the town. It is like today, the majority of people in this world put education as a priority while some people also known as truants don’t. The truants that Lee tells us about in this story are the Ewell’s.
The author also presents education by telling us about the limitations of the teacher Miss Caroline; she doesn’t seem to like the fact that most of the children in the class are more intelligent than she thought. Miss Caroline limits the learning of the children by telling Scout to tell her dad to stop teaching her how to read and for her to stop reading.
During the course of the first few chapters, the children especially Scout learn a lot of things beyond their way of living. This is a vital part of education and childhood and Harper Lee explores this topic in the story. When you are growing up you learn that you shouldn’t be prejudice against people, Scout learns this when she has Walter Cunningham over for dinner. Walter is a boy from a family that is less well off than Scout’s family, “You never really understand a person until you consider it from their point of view.” This quotation is jus the same as saying don’t judge a person that you don’t know until you get to know them. Lee is very strong on this subject and she develops it well later on in the story. She has presented both childhood and education in this part of the story by writing and showing the reader that one of the most important facts of growing up as a child is learning to respect and not stereotype others.
Harper Lee also presents education in this novel by the children learning the real world and the otherness of other people outside their own little world that they live in. An example of how she does this is by writing that Scout finds out that people like Walter Cunningham are different from the way that she is in general. She also learns that the American depression hit the south very bad and that people were less well off than her so they had a different style of living.
Education and Childhood are used in this novel a lot. These themes will obviously be developed during the course of this novel. In my opinion I think that childhood could be developed in this novel by the children learning more things during their stage of growing up. Also the curiosity if the Radley house to these children might become stronger or maybe even die. I think this because as you grow up you never know what might happen- one day your interested in one thing and then the next day you don’t find it interesting anymore. One more way in which childhood could be developed during the novel is that the bond that the Finch’s and people close to them could become stronger. As I have an idea of the story I think that the bond could become closer by events that might happen such as the case to do with Tom Robinson allegedly raping one of the Ewell’s girls.
The theme of Education could be developed in this novel by Scout learning a lot of lessons and facts of life while growing up. One way of which this might happen is using the topic of prejudice and discrimination, the children could be learning more about the racial tension and abuse that the black people went through in the town. As you read the story Scout actually learns this when she goes out to Calpurnia’s church with Calpurnia and Jem. A black woman called Lula doesn’t like the fact that Calpurinia brought Jem and Scout to their church because they are white. Also they could also be learning more about the law and justice of the way people around them live such as the Ewell’s, the Cunningham’s and even the Radley’s.
Finally both these themes could be developed in this story by showing and telling the reader that education and childhood are important in this novel as mush as it is in today’s modern society.
