3.2 Courage and Friendliness during School Years 8

3.3 Independence and Cleverness during Adolescence 9

4 Causes of Scout’s Transformation 11

4.1 The Influence of Scout’s Family 11

4.2 The Catalyst of Scout’s School Life and Aunt Alexandra 12

4.3 The Impact of Society: The Case of Tom Robinson 13

5 Conclusion 15

Bibliography16

 1 Introduction

Harper Lee (1926-2016) was born in Monroeville, Alabama and was raised as the youngest children of her family. Harper Lee was her pen name. When she studied at Monroe County High School, Lee became interested in English literature. After her graduation from high school in 1944, she attended the all-female Huntington College in Montgomery for a year, then she transferred to the University of Alabama, where she studied law for several years and wrote for the university newspaper, but did not complete a degree. Six months before her graduation, Lee moved to New York so that she could pursue her dream as a writer. Encouraged by her family and friends, Lee returned to her hometown and started to write her first and sole novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which earned worldwide reputation and was warmly welcomed by educators, politicians and teachers. Her work has won the Pulitzer Prize thus has a strong influence on American literature and society as a whole. This novel mainly focuses on family, education, care, love, and empathy. The issue of children’s growth, equality and dispelling prejudices is the key point of this novel.    

During the late 1940s and the early 1960s, many remarkable novels of wars and rebellious spirit mushroomed in America. To Kill a Mockingbird stands out from those classics and the moment it was published, reviews of this novel varied. Eileen Reynolds (2010: 87) reviewed that Lee was skilled and genius in language use and Mockingbird was an era-defining novel in The New Yorker. However, Phoebe Lou Adams (1960: 21) held that it was easy to read but it was unrealistic to portrait a six-year-old girl as an educated adult in The Atlantic. The plot was based on observations of Lee’s family and friends, especially an event happening near her hometown inspired her a lot. It does not only include lots of talks about warm and sweet family life but also conflicts on contentious issues. More meaningfully, it explores empathy and society in deep-layered horizons, which make it an outstanding work to guide teenagers to the moral world. 

The book's setting is a small town in Alabama, and the action behind Scout's tale is her father's determination, as a lawyer, liberal, and honest man, to defend a Negro accused of raping a white girl. What happens is, naturally, never seen directly by the narrator. The surface of the story is an Alcottish filigree of games, mischief, squabbles with an older brother, troubles at school, and the like. Moreover, it is inspiring in exploring the main factors in growth education. The novel is characterized as simplicity and justice but the atmosphere of it is sometimes serious particularly in the court. As increasing number of juvenile crimes come into being and terrible campus violence happened in Southern California, teenagers’ growth has aroused wide attention. Thus, it is an issue of great significance one cannot avoid and should be the common concern of family, school and society.

The thesis starts with the introduction part and generally talks about the author Harper Lee’s life and the achievements of To Kill a Mockingbird. Next it discusses the initiation story in two aspects, i.e., definition and origin of the initiation story, American initiation story. After that, the thesis analyzes Scout’s characters. The method of exemplification is used in this part. Then the thesis explores causes of Scout’s transformation. Here uses the method of comparison. Upon the analysis, how family, school and society influence Scout has been portrayed clearly. At last, a conclusion of research project will be reached.源:自*优尔`%论,文'网·www.youerw.com/