"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve the beauty." As people who encounter different environments and situations every day, it is impossible not to change. It is inevitable even when it isn't welcomed. Just as the caterpillar morphs into something magnificent, people can change for the better, but sometimes, change and transition into different states can harm a person. The following two pieces of literature, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, and To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, share the common theme of change and transition.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character Scout Finch, is rocked by the events the precede and follow a case her father is working on that is based off of racial prejudice. She finds herself surrounded by new knowledge she had been oblivious to before. When she is watching the trial, she comes to a new understanding of society's view of a person's worth because of the color of their skin. As a result of her new prospective, her relationship with her family dramatically changes. In the beginning of the book, she notes that because of his old age, father isn't like the other dads in her town. While she never thought of him as necessarily weak, she never thought of him as strong. During the events that precede the trial though, she admires her father's will, and says, "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived" (Lee,137). The opinion of her father drastically changes, and with it comes newfound respect. .
Additionally, her relationship with her older brother changes primarily because of her father's case. As the younger sibling, Scout had always admired her brother, and had followed him anywhere she was allowed to go. She finds herself willing to do anything he asks even when it's a life threatening situation.