Character analysis-Scout

Scout is a very unusual little girl both in her own qualities and in her social position. She is unusually smart, unusually confident (she fights boys without being scared!), thoughtful , and unusually good. In terms of her social identity, she is unusual for being a tomboy in the prim and proper Southern world of Maycomb. You will quickly find out when reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" that Scout is who she is because of the way Atticus has raised her. He has nurtured her mind, conscience, and individuality without bogging her down in fussy social hypocrisies and notions of propriety. While most girls in Scout’s position would be wearing dresses and learning manners, Scout thanks to Atticus’s hands-off parenting style, wears overalls and learns to climb trees with Jem and Dill. She does not always grasp social niceties, and human behavior often baffles her (as when one of her teachers criticizes Hitler’s prejudice against Jews while indulging in her own prejudice against blacks that doesn't make sense to her).