In the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" each of the main characters changed quite a bit. Through the experiences each character went through and the natural maturing that occurred in each of them, the characters were altered from the way they were at beginning of the book. The children, Scout and Jem, were the two most dramatically changed characters. However, Scout showed much more change than Jem did because of his mysterious hidden attitude. Scout matured from a helpless and naïve child into a much more experienced and grown-up young lady.



As a growing young girl, Scout was learning and experiencing things just like any other child would though growing up. She got older and was able to understand things a lot better as well as being able to apply lessons she had learned in her everyday life. She began to act slightly more grown up in situations such as Aunt Alexandria's dinner party. Scout forgot how much she despised her Aunt and how much she disliked dresses and joined the group of women in their conversations. Despite how she didn't want to "act more like a lady", she played along with her Aunt's "campaign to teach me (Scout) to be a lady" made an exception to please her Aunt and to create some peace between them. Upon hearing the news of Tom's death she concludes "if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I." This shows how Scout was beginning to act more ladylike for her Aunt.



Another way Scout changed a lot was in the way she treated Boo Radley. At the beginning of the book Jem, Dill, and herself enjoyed playing "Boo Radley" as a game and tormenting him by trying to have a chance to see him or prove their bravery by touching the house. As time went on, Scout's fears and apprehensions regarding the Radley place slowly disappeared. She mentions how "the Radley Place had ceased to terrify me (her)..." As she matures and is more able to take care of herself, she realizes more and more that Boo Radley is a human being, just like herself. By the end of the book, Scout even finally begins to call him by his real name, Arthur Radley, or Mr. Arthur, instead of the nickname giving to him by the townspeople, Boo Radley. When Arthur saves the children's lives the night Bob Ewell attacks them, Scout finally has her chance to see him. Without even being told, she knows that it is him. Instead of acting like a child about it, she maintains a very mature and adult-like attitude. She escorts him "to the chair farthest from Atticus and Mr. Tate. It was in a deep shadow. Boo would feel more comfortable in the dark." At the end of the night, she walks him home and says goodnight to him, all the while acting like it was an everyday occurrence. She stepped up to the plate of adulthood, ignoring her childhood innocence to make this man feel as relaxed possible.



Atticus was Scout's main source of valuable lessons, as he taught Jem and Scout very essential things about life on a daily basis. Scout looked up to Atticus and had tremendous respect for him, so she took everything he told her very seriously. Each lesson he taught her, she hung on to desperately and remembered it in her daily life. He once told her that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because all they do is sing their hearts out and don't bother anybody. She remembers this throughout the three years that the novel covers. She even applies it to the situation with Boo Radley. As Heck Tate refuses to tell people that Boo saved the Finch children, Scout agrees "it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird..."He also tells her not to judge people until you "climb into their shoes and walk around a while." She applies this lesson to her life also with more than one person. When Jem was acting strangely and not talking to her or playing with her as much, she comforts herself with this lesson as she "tried to climb into Jem's skin and walk around in it: if I (she) had gone alone into the Radley Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been held the next afternoon. She also applies this to Boo Radley when she stands on his porch after walking him home. She sees life and the neighborhood through his point of view and understands him better because of it. All of Atticus' lessons were important to Scout in one way or another.



By the end of the three years covered in this book, Scout has grown and matured more than any other character. Through becoming more aware of the world around her, she learns to distinguish what is right and wrong. Respect of other people and their feelings develop into a clearer concept for her as well. She understands life better and acts more appropriate as a result. Scout becomes all around a more adult-like human being.