To Kill a Mockingbird

One of the themes running throughout "To Kill A Mockingbird" has to do with the world of children opposing the world of adult. How do we see the two clash? Particularly from the sense of understanding or not understanding what is going on.

The answer is suppose to be found on pages 145 through 190. I got my answer wrong on homework and I would like to know the right answer.

Asked by
Last updated by jill d #170087
Answers 1
Add Yours

I don't know what copy you have of the novel, but there are several quotes dealing with the opposition between adults and children, and their perceptions of the things around them.

"Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more; I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be. (Chapter 9)

"When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em." (Chapter 9)

Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. "Atticus," his voice was distant, "can you come here a minute, sir?"

Beneath its sweat-streaked dirt Dill's face went white. I felt sick. […]

Jem was standing in a corner of the room, looking like the traitor he was. "Dill, I had to tell him," he said. "You can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'."

We left him without a word. (Chapter 14)

Source(s)

To Kill a Mockingbird