At the beginning of the novel Scout is an innocent five year old, who has never experienced the evils of the world.

As the novel progresses Scout comes face to face with the world’s evil in the form of racism and deceit.

As this progression happens the reader wanders whether or not Scout will come away form her experiences with the same optimistic attitude she began with or will she be bruised and hurt like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley.

Scout is an unusual young lady. She learns to read before she even starts school, she fights boys without fear and exposes an ever confident attitude.

She is a bit of a tom boy in a very prim and proper town where ladies are expected to behave like ladies.

Scout is definitely 'her father’s daughter', he has nurtured her mind conscience and identity. Whilst girls Scout’s age are wearing dresses and playing with dolls Scout wears overalls, climbs tress with Jem and fights.

Thanks to Atticus’s wise attitude Scout learns that the human race not only has the capacity for great evil but also the capacity for great good, and that she must face every situation with sympathy and understanding.

Scout is not always tactful and does not grasp social niceties when she tells her teacher that one student is too poor to pay for lunch.

Scout fails to understand human ignorance at times and finds it hard to believe that her teacher openly criticises Hitler’s treatment of the Jews whilst being racist herself towards the black community.

Scout’s development into a person capable of understanding shows that whatever evil she encounters, she will retain her conscience without becoming cynical or jaded.

By the end of the novel Scout has moved from a child to a near grown up with an understanding attitude.