Exchange student: LA
Setting On Characteristic – Essay
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Scout with Jem and Dill vs. Scout with Atticus
Just like in any other novel, in To Kill a Mockingbird, setting makes a relatively big impact on a character. In everyday life we notice how people change when put in different situations or when speaking with different people. One will not act the same he does towards his drinking buddies as he does to his boss. Everyone will have, if even the slightest, character change when forced out of their comfort zones. TKM proves this in several situations with several characters. Take Scout for example. She, as a main character, faces almost everyone we meet in the story in almost every setting described. If focused on her behavior it’s in fact clear that she behaves slightly different in most, if not all, situations.
In this case when playing around with Jem and Dill in contrast with when having a conversation with Atticus. With the two boys she’s always seems childish, perhaps for attention. She agrees to their games just so they would let her join in on whatever it is they’re doing. It added that back then it was a ‘boys rule, girls drool’ kind of community, and that did not suite Scout one bit. This usually takes place in the garden. Scout is playful, tomboyish and in a way, egoistic- thinking somewhat along the line that she has more common sense then her brother or Dill. That may be one of the reasons Jem repeatedly pulls the ‘you’re a girl’ card when he says "Scout, I'm tellin' you for the last time, shut your trap or go home—I declare to the Lord you're gettin' more like a girl every day!" With that, I had no option but to join them.” (Lee 69), because in fact she does act like one, if unintentionally. It is clear she doesn’t take that easy either, against her better judgment, she joins in on their troublemaking.
On the other hand, when with Atticus Scout is quite calm. She acts respectfully, listening and trying to understand what he’s teaching her in their random conversations. She calls him Atticus even though he’s her father, and even when talking about him to other people. That I’m not sure where you would place it but I think it’s definitely another sign of respect that not only Scout, but Jem, has for him too. In contrast to her playing around with Jem and Dill outside, when with Atticus she usually learns something meaningful that may or may not add to, explain and/or foreshadow something in the story. Either way the lessons learned by Scout from her father are what we’re all taught when young, for example when Atticus says “If you just
