“To what extent do you agree that “To Kill a Mockingbird” can be described as a “coming of age” novel? Explain your ideas with detailed reference to the writers presentation of characters and incidents in the whole text”
“To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, has many themes, and explores the development of children, (Jem, Scout, and Dill) into young adults, as they “come of age”. Although we do not see the children grow into adults, we do see them mature and grow, learning to cope with their situation and understand why Atticus is helping Tom Robinson. We are shown the story through the eyes of Scout, a child. We are therefore shown what a child does and does not understand about the different themes in the play, such as racism, and how they just accept things when they are younger, but we also see them grow to start to think for themselves, and not follow the rest of Maycombe’s lead.
In part one of the novel, we are introduced to both the children and the themes. The adults of Maycombe are judged by the children, their character is judged, and they can tell if is good or not. For example Mr Avery, he is a racist character, and racism is a major theme in the novel. The children judge him and laugh at him by making a snowman of him. This event is also an example of symbolism in the novel. There was not enough snow to make a snowman, so the children build the basis of Mr Avery in black mud, covering him with white snow. As Mr Avery is a racist character in the play, it is important that he was black on the inside, this example of symbolism shows us that the author does not agree with racism, as she is mocking the racist characters, but also that she feels everyone is the same inside, even if we look different on the outside.
