The age of when a child begins to grow into a mature adult is never accurate, for it is different for every child. Every child goes through different events at different ages that causes them to grow due to the life they lead. Jean Louise Finch was only a mere age of six when she starts to learn life's most significant lessons. But it is not through school where she learned this education about life, but through her own personal experiences and events that involved the residents of her home town of Maycomb. Through each of these experiences, Jean Louise, or Scout, learned another lesson. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout learned many life lessons and matures through Tom Robinson's trial, meeting Boo Radley, and her own father Atticus.
Due to the Tom Robinson trial, Scout learned lessons that she would remember all her life. Before the trial, Scout never knew Maycomb for its mistreatment towards blacks. She did not have much knowledge about blacks, and not until she witnessed the trial did she notice the management of blacks in her own town. She started understanding the hostility towards blacks after Atticus became the lawyer of Tom Robinson, and even experiences the mistreatment herself. She receives this from students at school, but as well as family and neighbors such as Mrs. Dubose, "Not only a Finch waiting tables, but one in the courthouse lawing for niggers" (Lee 101). At this point, Scout is not familiar with the concept, and goes to Atticus for help. She does not understand why residents in Maycomb treat blacks that way. During the trial, Scout also comes to experience how her town treats Negroes. She feels the racial tension in the courtroom from many residents of Maycomb and learned that many are prejudice against blacks. After the jury failed to set Tom Robinson free, Scout fully understood prejudice when she witnessed the trial, and witnessed prejudice as well.
