JEAN LOUISE "SCOUT" FINCH
Jean Louise Finch, Scout for short, is four years younger than her older brother Jem. Despite the fact that her mother died when she was two years old, she is excited about school until she starts off on the wrong foot. She was unable to fathom why she wasn't allowed to read. After Cal feeds her one of her favorites, crackling bread, she is no longer upset with that instance, but she is usually upset when Calpurnia punishes her. Sumer was the best time of year for her because it meant no school and Dill, her "fiance." When Jem and Dill would not include her in their activities, she would spend time with Miss Maudie Atkinson. If you told her she was becoming a girl, she would do almost anything. One eventful day she rolled in a tire right into the Radley Place. Harper Lee does not describe her physical appearance very much, but she does say that she has bangs. Snow fascinates her since this is southern Alabama. Even though she shouldn't use her fists as the means to communicate, Scout fights Cecil Jacobs. Later she walks away from her first fight, despite being called a coward. She does not like when it is returned though since she was upset when Uncle Jack hit her. From that event she will have a scar on her wedding right finger. Despite the fact that she tries to behavve, Scout is not always successful. Being more like her mother than Atticus, her father, she wants to twirl with the Maycomb County High School Band. Starring as a ham in the Halloween Pageant, she misses her cue, but the show must go on! Eventually she is attacked by Mr. Ewell on the way home from the pageant. Scout serves as an excellent narrator for this novel, but she is far too important of a character to describe everything in this small amount of space.
The following is an essay on Scout's emotional development throughout the novel:
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jean Louise Finch, Scout for short, changes drastically. Her feelings for others go from those of a tomboy who could care less what happens to anyone but herself, to those of a girl who has better control of herself and a better handle on the moral code of the time. Her relationship with Jem, her older brother, also evolves throughout the novel, but her main struggles are with other people. Being one to use fighting as the ultimate solution to all problems, she has to learn how to control herself at all times. Scout Finch makes a miraculous change in regard to other people's feelings from the beginning of this excellent novel to the end.
At the start of the novel, Scout Finch is basically clueless about the feelings of others. At a young age she helps in the efforts to tie Eunice Ann Simpson to a chair in the furnace room of the church. In one of the first chapters, Jean Louise Finch beats up Walter Cunningham because he makes her look like a fool when he can't afford lunch and is too afraid to say so. She has no recognition that he might not be able to help it; she simply views the situation as she got in trouble, and it was his fault. This rambunctious youngster does not understand Atticus's explanation of "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it," but she does acknowledge that "I [Scout] ha[s] learned many things today." Scout does know a little bit about what she should and should not do, listening to Jem "rather than risk a tangle with Calpurnia." Taking into consideration what Atticus wants, she does not fight Cecil Jacobs even though he calls her a coward. Over time, Scout learns to soften the blow to the other person's feelings, like when she told Uncle Jack what she thought, "You're real nice, Uncle Jack, an' I reckon I love you even after what you did, but you don't understand children much," despite what it does to him emotionally. She is still the same old stubborn Scout who gets into fights, but she is beginning to change as she matrues. After once violently attacking Walter Cunningham with her tiny fists in the school yard several years before, she "remember[s] the distant disastrous occasion when I rushed to young Walter Cunningham's defense. Now I [am] glad I'd done it." Even though she only wants to be herself, Scout ends up giving in to her Aunt's wishes, wearing dresses and acting like a lady. She soon learns what a challenging task that truly is. Although she would still prefer to be one of the guys, she begins to act grownup. As the story progresses, Scout's emotional development evolves.
Scout's concern for the fellings of others is also evident in her relationship with Boo Radley. Only referring to him as Boo, not Arthur Radley as he should be rightly called, at the beginning of the novel, she is fascinated by all of the stories about him and why he stays inside. Scout freezes when she rolls into the Radley Place, just one of many instances where she is petrified of entering the yard, much less the house, where she never goes. When the little treasures are left in the tree, she is afraid to take them. Having to force some of the awful things from her head, she ends up removing them from the tree and saving them at home. During the more immature stages of their childhood, Jem, Dill, and Scout play "Boo Radley," completely disregarding his feelings o the subject. Scout's opinion of Mr. Arthur, which is reflected by the name she uses to refer to him, changes as the story progresses. She originally refers to him as only Boo, but she calls him Mr. Arthur as time progresses and she becomes more mature. It is obvious that Scout changes when she acknowledges that she "sometimes [feels] a twinge of remores, [sic] when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment of Arthur Radley." The final stage of Scout's emotional development occurs on the night of the Halloween party. Grateful for her life, she is perfectly comfortable being in the same room as Mr. Arthur. The statement "Mr. Arthur, bend your arm down here, like that," shows that Scout has taken the final step to maturity as she leads him home. This gesture shows that she is finally comfortable around him, which is the exact opposite of the beginning of the novel. The relationship between Scout Finch and Boo Radley is instrumental in the development of Scout's concern for other people's feelings and emotions.
"Won't you have a seat, Mr. Arthur?" This rocking-chair's nice and comfortable," Scout says, reinforcing the idea that she was becoming a lady, and she was starting to have more concern for other people's feelings. Scout instinctively begins to grow up and acknowledges other people's feelings more as the story To Kill A Mockingbird progresses, going from ting a poor innocent girl to a chair in the furnace room to showing remorse and sadness for treating Boo Radley so horribly. As her relationship with her brother begins to fall apart, Scout's relationship with the world becomes stronger. Scout Finch makes a miraculous change in regard to other people's feelings from the beginning of this excellent novel to the end.
