Abstract Initiation story plays an irreplaceable part in teenager’s lives, which is also helpful in shaping children’s values. As increasing number of juvenile crimes come into being, and terrible campus violence happens in Southern California, teenagers’ growth has aroused wide attention. It is an issue one cannot avoid and should be the common concern of family, school and society. 

This thesis is going to make a complete analysis of Scout’s image in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This book，which has won the Pulitzer award, is warmly welcomed by American people and is famous all over the world. The primary task of this thesis is to understand the growth of Scout, what kind of children American people appreciate and to explore the main factors in growth education.62225

The paper includes five chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to the novel. The second chapter is going to introduce definition and origin of initiation story. The third chapter is to explore Scout’s characters, which includes three parts and focuses on Scout’s childhood, school years and adolescence. Scout shows naivety and innocence during childhood. She will play drama with her friends when summer comes. During school years, Scout shows courage and friendliness. She will speak for her classmates when teacher misunderstands them. During adolescence, she shows independence and cleverness. After her father’s defend for a black man, she begins to think about social equality problem. In the fourth chapter, the thesis will mainly talk about the causes of Scout’s transformation. Under the mutual influence of family, school and society, Scout enters into the stage of maturity. In the final analysis, a conclusion of research project will be reached.

Key Words: initiation story, social equality, growth education 

摘要成长小说对于青少年的成长起到不可替代的作用，他能够帮助塑造青少年的价值观。随着近来越来越多青少年犯案被揭露以及发生在南加州的校园暴力事件，青少年的成长问题引起了广泛的关注。这个问题不能避免，并且家庭、学校和社会都要足够重视。

本论文尝试分析哈珀·李著作《杀死一只知更鸟》中司各特的形象。这本小说赢得了普利策小说奖，在全世界都享有盛名并且深受美国人民的喜爱。主要尝试理解司各特的成长，在美国人的观念中什么样的小孩是他们所欣赏的和探索在成长教育中主要的影响因素。

本篇论文共包括五章内容。第一章是导论，对于哈珀·李的生平和著作《杀死一只知更鸟》进行介绍。第二章概述成长小说，共分两小节，其一是成长小说的定义和起源，其二介绍美国的成长小说。第三章探究了司各特从孩童到青少年的性格特征，包括了少年阶段，学校阶段和青年阶段。司各特少年时代天真单纯，每年夏天和伙伴们在家演话剧；学龄时期友好又勇敢，在老师面前为同学打抱不平；青年时期聪慧和独立，通过父亲为黑人辩论的事件，她会思考社会平等的问题。第四章着重分析司各特的转变的原因。在家庭、学校、社会的共同作用下，司各特步入成熟的阶段。最后一部分总结课题。 

毕业论文关键词：成长小说，社会平等，成长教育

CONTENTS 

Acknowledgementsi

Abstractii

摘要..iii

1 Introduction 1

2 The Initiation Story 3

2.1 Definition and Origin of the Initiation Story 3

2.2 American Initiation Story 4

3 Scout’s Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird 7

3.1 Naivety and Innocence during Childhood