The two different perspectives add an element of humour to the story, at the expense of the younger Scout. We, the reader, known more than Scout; this leads to us laughing at some of her mistakes and misunderstandings. For example, on Scout’s first day at school, she thinks Miss Caroline is going to spit on it and is confused because she does not know what deal they have made. At the time, spitting on a hand was a way of sealing a deal – at least for children Scout’s age. We know that Scout is about to be ‘whipped’ and can see the humour in the fact that Scout us generally confused.
This emphasises the naivety of the younger Scout, who is very innocent and is quite different from the older Scout. While the older Scout uses a wider range of vocabulary, with long sentence structures and a sophisticated selection of words, younger Scout’s sentences are by large monosyllabic with shortenings like ‘ain’t’ and her sentences are by norm short. Also, older Scout has a deeper understanding about how words can be used. For example, you could tell that it is from the older Scouts perspective that Lee wrote ‘The class murmured apprehensively, should she prove to harbour her share of the peculiarities indigenous to that region’. While the larger and more complex words like ‘apprehensively’ and ‘indigenous’ are a giveaway that it can be from the younger Scout’s point of view, as she would be too young at the time to known their meaning, the use of ‘harbour’ is also an indicator for the older Scouts point of view. As mentioned, the older Scout had a deeper understanding of the words used, and how different contexts can change their meaning. While a young child, such as the younger Scout, would associate the words with ports and ships, there is another definition, of which it can also mean ‘shelter’, ‘hide’, ‘conceal’, ‘to keep or hold in mind’, ‘to contain’ and ‘to hide’. Context can change a words meaning, and while the older Scout obviously understood the use of the word in that particular context, as demonstrated by it correct use, the younger Scout would most likely not understand it uses in that particular sentence.
