The document provides guidance for analyzing the character of Scout in Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". It outlines several aspects of Scout's character to explore, including her narration style, relationships, views on race, justice, and how she matures over the course of the novel. Students are prompted to consider how Scout is shaped by her upbringing in the Great Depression-era South and how the events of the novel impact her development from a 6 to 9-year old.

1. Explore the
character of
Scout in ‘To Kill a
Mockingbird’

2. • Knowledge of the text
• Personal engagement with the task
• Critical style
AO1
AO4
• Understanding of the
relationship between the text
and context in which it was
written

3. Explore the character of Scout in the novel
You must consider the context of the novel in
your answer

4. • Knowledge of the text
• Personal engagement with the task
• Critical style
AO1

5. • What do they say?
• What do they do?
• What do others say about
them?
• What do others do that
affects them or reflects on
them?
Character
study

6. Jot down some adjectives that come to mind
when you think about Scout and her personality
If you have certain events or moments
in the novel in mind, which inform
those word choices, jot those down
too…

7. Scout as narrator
• Look again at the opening couple of pages of the novel
• How far into the future might the events be narrated from?
• What is the focus of the introduction?
• What is left out?

8. Scout as narrator cont.
• How does her narration reflect her upbringing, cultural conditioning
and values?
• What do we learn about the kind of person Scout has BECOME?
• Is Scout’s voice in the novel written from the perspective of a 6-9
year old child or as an adult, looking back?
• To what extent is the novel about Scout?

9. • How has being the younger sister by 4 years to Jem Finch,
shaped her identity?
• Her mother died when she was 2 years old – how did she take
this?
• What are her initial opinions of her father, Atticus?
• How does her opinion change during the course of the novel?
The Finch Family

10. • How does Scout respond to formal schooling and Miss
Caroline?
• Why do we only learn her ‘real name’ (Jean Louise) in Ch2,
when she first attends school?
• What is Scout’s relationship with reading?
• What does Scout learn about other people’s experiences?
Scout and Education (Ch.2/3)

11. • What kind of a relationship does Scout have with Dill?
• What other friends does she have?
• How does Scout spend her time playing and what does
this say about her? (Boo Radley, the tyre, etc)
• How much of the time does Scout dictate her play?
Scout and Friendship

12. • How does Scout interact with the adults around her?
• How does she get on with others in Maycomb?
• What do you think Scout’s changing view of Boo Radley?
• To what extent is the novel a reflection of the adult world, see
through the eyes of an innocent child?
Scout and the adult world

13. • Scout is often depicted as a tomboy – where in the novel is this
most apparent?
• To what degree does the novel explore her maturation as a girl
into a young woman?
• Who are her role models?
• Is the reader sympathetic with Scout’s struggle to find her place in
the world as a female?
Scout and Gender

14. Is the novel, to some degree,
autobiographical?

15. • To what degree is Scout aware of her family’s
poverty/relative wealth?
• How does the novel’s setting in the middle of the Great
Depression shape Scout’s understanding of the world?
Scout and Poverty

16. • Harper Lee presents Scout as a child, growing up in the
South during the Depression era – to what degree does her
narrative voice reflect the endemic racism of the time?
• What evidence is there that Scout is a champion of equality
and humanism?
• Look more closely at Scout’s relationship with Calpurnia
Scout and Race

17. • What does Scout come to learn about ‘fairness’ and the way
society manages ‘justice’?
• What are the key events that reflect Scout’s growing
awareness of injustice?
Scout and Justice

18. • At the end of the novel, Scout is 3 years older and has grown
significantly as a result of the events that have transpired.
• How is 9 year old Scout in 1935 a different person than the 6
year old Scout at the start of the novel (1933)?
Scout’s character arc

19. Is the novel shaped as a
bildungsroman?

21. The
bildungsroman
and ‘the hero’s
journey’

23. • In what ways does Scout’s journey conform to the model of
Joseph Campbell’s ‘monomyth’?
• How does it
differ?