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How does Scout Finch deal with her classmates in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Scout has very few things in common with the majority of her classmates. Scout lives in town, and her father is a lawyer. Many of her pupils reside in the rural areas of Maycomb and come from families that make their living farming. Scout also comes a from a family that values education, and her classmates seem rather dismissive of the subjects they are taught in class. In Chapter 2, Scout comments that her classmates...

Scout has very few things in common with the majority of her classmates. Scout lives in town, and her father is a lawyer. Many of her pupils reside in the rural areas of Maycomb and come from families that make their living farming. Scout also comes a from a family that values education, and her classmates seem rather dismissive of the subjects they are taught in class. In Chapter 2, Scout comments that her classmates were "immune to imaginative literature" (Lee 22). However, Scout is the leader of her class and continually volunteers to answer questions that the teachers ask. She is rather supportive of her classmates throughout the novel and even tries to defend Walter Cunningham when he refuses to accept Miss Caroline's quarter. Scout tells her teacher, "Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham" (Lee 26). Her classmates look up to Scout and follow her lead. Scout is also tolerant of her classmates both academically and socially. When Cecil Jacobs says that Atticus defends "niggers," Scout refrains from fighting him (Lee 99). She says, "I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away" (Lee 102). Scout is always bored in school, and when she is in Mrs. Gates' class, she has to listen to Chuck Little give a presentation about an advertisement instead of a "current event." Despite her differences with her classmates, Scout does her best to get along with them and help them in anyway she can, whether it be answering the tough questions or defending someone's character.

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