Most of the adults in To Kill a
Mockingbird have settled in to their lives, with years of opinionated thought
engrained in them. Adults are less likely to change, and many of their beliefs and views
about other people around them will stay with them until they die. Racist attitudes and
views about various families (such as Alexandra's Streaks and "dicta" about people, see
Chapter 13) never go away. According to
Scout,
...
the present generation of people who had lived side by side for years and years, were
utterly predictable to one another: they took for granted attitudes, character shadings,
even gestures, as having been repeated in each generation and refined by
time.
Jem, Scout and Dill had
no such burden. They saw things from an innocence that only children can, without past
opinions or knowledge affecting their judgement. They hear gossip and listen to other
people's speculation, but they look at things more clearly than most adults. Although
they at first fall for the terrible rumors about Boo, they are able to see past them
once they receive his friendly gifts. They finally realize that the stories about Boo
are just rumors, and that the adults of Maycomb have misunderstood him in a disgraceful
way.
The children, like Atticus, are mostly color blind
when it comes to race, and the children feel at home at the Negro church and sitting in
the balcony of the courtroom. They have no fear of Dolphus Raymond, and they understand
him (unlike the other people in Maycomb) once they spend a few minutes getting to know
him.
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