Scout is a young girl growing up in Southern Alabama during the 1930s. She narrates the story as an adult looking back on three difficult years of her childhood. It is advantageous to tell the story from Scout’s point of view. Scout draws the reader’s attention to the way adults treat one another. An example of this would be people’s attitudes toward ‘Boo’ Radley and Tom Robinson. They were both victims of people’s prejudice. Scout’s observations of this are effective because she is noticing them for the first time. Being a child, she is unable to fully understand why adults behave in an irrational manner. Her lack of understanding adds a simplistic naivety to her narration.
Scout sees things from an unbiased point of view. This can be seen many times when she is describing “the simple hell people give other people” (Lee 201).
Scout is portrayed as more sensible than most of the adult characters because she has an open outlook on life. When it comes to basic human morals, only Scout can teach the adults a thing or two about it. Scout’s opinions on people and events are formed from what is familiar to her. For example, Atticus’ high moral character is not prejudice. This reflects strongly on Scout’s attitude. Because Scout has grown up with Calpurnia in her house, she sees Negroes as hard working and decent individuals who are not to be feared. If To Kill a Mockingbird were to be narrated by another child, the child would be influences by his parent’s ideas and would probably be biased. This is another reason why Scout makes an ideal choice; she is not biased.
Being a member of the Finch family, Scout gives the reader a clear view of the progression of Tom Robinson’s case. She is able to provide the reader with a large amount of detail of how Atticus feels and the strain that the case is putting on him. The reader also gets a good idea of how the case affects the family and how the...