Exposing Scout to the Harsh 1930s

Think of when you were six or seven years old. You probably knew close to nothing about politics or the society that you lived in. Your little world was just kindergarden, nap, eat, sleep.  Now think of Scout, being seven years old in To Kill a Mockingbird, and how much of her outside world that she was exposed to at such a young age. Although many characters changed and evolved through out To Kill a Mockingbird due to exposure, Scout changed the most in my opinion.

Through the course of the story Scout was shown many different parts of society that she had never seen before, such as racial discrimination to its full extent. Racial discrimination is something that Scout has already been exposed to from living in the 1930s, but what she actually learns to goes much deeper. When she and Dill were talking after the trials, I think that Dill sort of convinced her of the wrong that was being done saying “I know all that Scout. It was the way he said it that made me sick, plain sick”(199). To see a completely innocent man be held "guilty" is not something to be seen every day in our society, but was exposed to Scout in hers.

Although the exposure to extreme racial discrimination had an effect on Scout, the effects of it did just about as much damage to her little 7 year-old bubble. The racial discrimination in Maycomb goes so far that just defending a black man makes you and your family a social outcaste, like it did for the Finches. But this hatred doesn’t only go one way. When Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to her church, although most of the church show respect, because Atticus is defending Tom Robinson, Lula changes the mind of some people going back and forth with Calpurnia saying things like “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white [children] here – they got their church, we got our’n.” (119). Also a big reaction from the racial discrimination is first, Bob Ewell accusing Tom Robison of rape, but then going out and trying to kill Scout and Jem, just because their dad defended the person he accused, a black man.

Through all of the trauma and damage due to the exposure of the harsh world Scout lived in, there is a silver lining. At the end when Atticus is putting Scout to sleep,  he “Turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night, and would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.”(281). This “guardian” role that Atticus acquires through this scene says that he will always be there and stand strong, even through the racial discrimination like he did throughout the story.