As To Kill a Mockingbird opens, we get a glimpse of Scout and Jem’s world – dark, overgrown, one might even say a bit decaying. It’s hardly the bright world of Alice in Wonderland or The Wind in the Willows. Neither, though, is it the harsh existence of The Lord of the Flies; the key word to describe Maycomb county would have to be “realism.”
Harper Lee seems to be showing the children as realistic characters in the midst of a heightened “Southern Gothic” background. A great deal of this heightened world comes from the children’s (particularly Scout, the narrator’s) observations and active imaginations: "In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square."(9) The children’s strength lies in the fact that they know their games could have violent (or at least negative) ends, but they play to ensure that all the players are able to return home. On the other hand, adult games hurt those who refuse to play by ever-changing “rules,” and not everyone gets to come home.
These games parallel the children’s development from a total, imaginative innocence to a level of experience by realizing how genuine life’s games really are. For instance, after playing games inspired by children’s books and the pulp literature of the time, Scout, Jem and Dill turn to the world around them for ideas. Boo Radley becomes the perfect “monster,” and they build a legend around him from stories told them by Miss Stephanie Crawford, Atticus, and Miss Maudie. They progress from daring each other to cross into the Radleys’ yard to acting out different versions of Boo stabbing his father in the leg to, even after being scolded by Atticus, attempting to look into one of the Radleys’ windows. Mr. Radley catches them, scaring them into realizing how real their game could be. Artifacts of this incident – the shotgun, Jem's pants left at the scene – remain as reminders, and the children grow a bit.
Childhood name-calling in To Kill a Mockingbird gives way to genuine voices of hatred. The children hear their father called a “Nigger-lover” and other names by people who don’t mean it playfully; their understanding of such things expands as the trial begins and such understanding is essential. So, too, does the incident at the jail. Scout innocently saves her father from a beating at best by simply recognizing Mr. Cunningham and calling out to his humanity. In doing so, she separates him from the safety of the mindless group of which he is a part, preventing violence – a very grown-up act, indeed, although she doesn’t yet realize how much she is changing.
The trial is a game in itself, with Mayella and Bob Ewell and their supporters pitted against Tom Robinson and Atticus, with the children sitting in the “Negro section” of the courtroom, symbolizing where their support lies. The children support their father not just because he is their father; they are coming to realize the stakes in this game, and that these stakes involve right and wrong. Scout and Jem also develop a higher respect for Atticus, because his version of the game involves respect and regard for the individuals involved, innocent or guilty. It is the only truly “adult” behavior in the novel. Atticus’s fairness in the trail makes it even harder for the children to accept the verdict. Atticus explains as well as he can, emphasizing both sides' reasons for their words and actions. They still have a hard time understanding, as the “rules” of the community supercede the rules of fairness and the rule of law.
Outside its own playing field, the trial makes little sense to the children. It also leads to real-life violence, with no rules and no guarantee that anyone (Tom Robinson, in attempting escape, and Bob Ewell later) will return home. Boo Radley, the “monster” from earlier in the book, returns at the end to rescue the children from a crazed Bob Ewell. Believing he and his daughter have been wronged despite the fact that Mayella came on to Tom in the first place, Ewell just wants revenge on anyone, even children. Scout experiences an unusual negative response to missing her entrance in the school’s agricultural pageant (denoting a change in her attitude) then is attacked by Ewell on the way home. Jem attempts to defend his sister, but only when Boo comes out of nowhere does Scout survive. Boo Radley accidentally kills Ewell in the struggle; after carrying the wounded Jem home and sitting with Scout for a while, Boo disappears once more into the Radley house.
Walking home, Scout realizes that their games of imagining what Boo’s life was like no longer matter. He is a human being, no more or less flawed than anyone else in a final analysis. The “monster,” like Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell, isn’t inherently evil, but caught up in situations beyond their control. By deciding to embrace her father's advice to practice sympathy and understanding, Scout emerges ready to deal with an adult world, where the games are real, and the rules change as you go.
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