Growing Up in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

Abstract

The main aim of this bachelor paper is to provide an analysis of the process of growing up in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. This work analyzes the development of Scout's gender identity in regards to the traditional Southern gender role for women. Firstly, the genre Bildungsroman is introduced. Then, the essence of Southern womanhood is depicted simultaneously with the major changes in the Southern society, ranking from the antebellum era to the Great Depression. The second part of the paper consists of the detail analysis of Scout's coming-of-age, regarding her conformance to the traditional gender code for girls of her time.