45 the information; and they begin to form long-lasting memories. However, young
children memory is not as good as the older ones. In encoding, importantly, young children are likely to focus on exact details of an event, which are easily forgotten,
whereas older children and adults generally concentrate on the gist of what happen Papalia et al, 2007, p.254. Scout never feels her mother absence because
she is not able to remember a single sentimental moment with her mother. Therefore she
―does not miss her, but she thinks Jem does. He remembers her clearly‖ p.6. Scout‘s opinion, in the novel, has implicitly told that she is a tough
girl. She does not stay in grief although she knows she does not have a mother since her childhood.
5. Intelligent
Considering Murphy‘s theory of characterization, especially about ―speech‖, the researcher identifies that Scout‘s character is being intelligent.
Speech, according to Murphy 1972 is the characterization technique in which the author gives clues in describing the character through conversation with
another, the character‘s opinion or when the character speaks. Through Jem‘s speech when he met Dill for the first time, Scout is described as being intelligent
since she can read even before she starts going to school. It can be proven from the statement
―Shoot no wonder, then,‖ said Jem, jerking his thumb at me. ―Scout yonder‘s been readin‗ ever since she was born, and she ain‘t even started to school
yet. You look right puny for goin‘ on seven.‖ p.7. Another Murphy‘s method proving Scout is intelligent is through
―thought‖ in which the author describes what a certain character‘s thinks. In the
46 novel
, Lee describes that Miss Caroline realizes Scout‘s intelligence after she makes Scout read.
I suppose she chose me because she knew my name; as I read the alphabet a faint line appeared between her eyebrows, and after making me read
most of My First Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud, she discovered that I was literate and looked at me with
more than faint distaste p.19.
Scout can read before she goes to school. Her reading skill is developed accidentally. She even does not realize that what she is doing is learning to read. It
can be proven from the statement ―I could not remember not being able to read hymns…, reading was something that just came to me.‖ p.20. Her father,
Atticus, is one of the factors that create the learning atmosphere as natural as possible. Scout is always involved in some activities that can facilitate her
learning to read such as the followings. I never deliberately learned to read, but somehow I had been wallowing
illicitly in the daily papers. In the long hours of church —was it then I
learned? I could not remembe r not being able to read hymns. … I could
not remember when the lines above Atticus‘s moving finger separated into words, but I had stared at them all the evenings in my memory, listening to
the news of the day, Bills to Be Enacted into Laws, the diaries of Lorenzo Dow
—anything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his lap every night. Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One
does not love breathing pp.19-20. Once Scout‘s reading ability is developed, she can read everything around her
reach. As a result, Scout‘s knowledge is expanding. It can be proven from the statement
―As for me, I knew nothing except what I gathered from Time magazine and reading everything I could lay hands on at home,…, I could not help receiving
the impression that I was being cheated out of something ‖ p.36. Based on this
47 quotation, it can be concluded that Scout‘s character in the novel is described as
being intelligent.
6. Persistent
