Emily Armstrong
Hanson, period 3
April 20th, 2015
Coming of Age Coming of age is realizing life isn't fair. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there are many instances where young children realize that life isn't perfect and never will be. They wont always get their way no matter how hard they try. The world is exaggerated to be such a happy place as a child, yet when people are put into mature situations in reality, which is when they mature. Discrimination is a common problem that is over looked in Maycomb. “Its just as much Maycomb County as missionary teas.” page 212 This simile shows that racism is just as common and over looked as missionary teas. Through out the novel Harper Lee gives strong examples of not only black discrimination, but discrimination on Boo too. The colored people were treated like trash and basically didn't have any rights. Even though they “have rights”, they technically don’t. In court, the jury is all white; therefore they are biased towards the white people. Another instance where discrimination is present is when the people in Maycomb talk about Boo Radley. They said he was a “monster” with inhumanly qualities. Yet later in the book the kids realize he isn't actually a monster, but a normal, yet pale, human being. Tragic events lead to sadness and stress that shapes kids into men and women who realize life isn't always going go their way. “It aint right, Atticus” he murmured. Page 212 The way Jem was acting and talking shows the tone of this part in the story. Jem had believed Tom and Atticus could win the trial because of how obvious Atticus made the story sound. Dill and Jem both thought deepen their hearts good would come out of this trial. To them, loosing didn't even seem as an option. Yet when the man announced that Tom Robinson was pleaded guilty their hearts dropped. Now when they didn't think anything worse could happen the unthinkable happened. Tom was shot and killed instantly when trying to run away from the police at a county jail. These disasters opened Dill and Jem’s eyes to the real world. They soon learned that even when you think everything is well, things can go wrong. When situations get bad, kids normally look to their peers, but sometimes they ant there to help so they have to grow up and help themselves. “His