Your child just doesn't get it, he's in middle school but acts like a preschooler. He looks like a young man and has started shaving, but he acts like your eight-year-old sister. There are always certain stages of childhood that transform children into adults. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (TKM), set in the 1930s fictional town of Maycomb, readers are confronted with two young children struggling to become adults. Throughout TKM, Scout, a six-year-old girl, and Jem, a boy entering fifth grade, allude to mental transformations in the way they think and act. The two little troublemakers begin to see how their decisions affect those around them, which inspires Jem and Scout to understand what it really means to grow up and not age. The transformation from childhood to adulthood is a difficult path of change and choices that form adults together. Jem and Scout's obvious changes in TKM show how they are beginning to think like adults. One of the three fundamental aspects of adulthood is maturity. When we first meet Jem and Scout in TKM, the mystery of Boo Radley intrigues Jem, Scout, and Dill. They come up with a plan to get him out of Boo's house. In their immaturity, the three of them develop the idea of ​​reenacting Boo's life to keep Boo's interest and mystery alive. The game of piecing together Boo's troubles is an immature and childish game to play. At the end of the book, Scout demonstrates her maturity to Boo Radley among others. “Over the course of the novel, she learns to act more adult, even more feminine, and to view the people around her as real human beings” (Shmoop). Scout plays the role of a woman allowing Boo to accompany her home for the night. Scout understands her role as... middle of paper... challenges that shape them into mature, wise, self-possessed adults. In TKM, readers move through the growth process with Jem and Scout throughout the book. Jem undergoes a change in thinking and gains an understanding of human nature. Scout learns to control her anger and become the young woman she is meant to be. Coming of age is a natural process that all adults go through; Not all adults know the purpose of this process and therefore do not learn. The transition from childhood to adulthood is a difficult and difficult time, full of challenges that every child must overcome to become an adult, as demonstrated by TKM. Work cited Lee, Harper. To kill a mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1960. Print.MuditJ, . "Jeremy Finch's Coming of Age: To Kill a Mockingbird." Study mode. March 2011. “To Kill a Mockingbird Genre.” Shmoop. Internet. April 9 2014.