43 ―You can just take that back, boy‖
This order, given by me to Cecil Jacobs, was the beginning of a rather thin time for Jem and me. My fists were clenched and I was ready to let fly.
Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore; 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. I soon forgot p.85.
Atticus orders Scout not to fight with Cecil Jacobs, her schoolmate although he has annoyed Scout. She respects her father and listens to what he orders to her
although her pride is torn away. I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped
my fists and walked away, ―Scout‘s a cow—ward‖ ringing in my ears. It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight. Somehow, if I fought
Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and me to do something for him, I could take being called a coward for him p.87.
Avoiding a fight is not Scout‘s style. However, she knows well that if she has a fight this time, she will upset her father, Atticus. Since she really respects her
father, she follows Atticus‘ order to walk away from a fight.
3. High-tempered
From Murphy‘s theory of characterization, a character can be described through a
certain character‘s reactions or responses to various situation and events. In this case, Scout‘s character is identified as being high-tempered based
on ―reactions‖ towards various situations. Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently
subdued, and crooned softly, ―Nigger-lover…‖
This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right, but not for long p.96.
Scout‘s cousin, Francis says something bad about Atticus and it annoys Scout. At first, she can manage it but she cannot control her anger anymore once Francis
44 called her father as a nigger-
lover. Her reaction toward Francis‘ saying is unpredictable. She fights Francis although Francis is a boy. Scout is not afraid of
Francis just because he is a boy. Once her pride is torn away, Scout does not stand still and do nothing. Even when her brother has crossed her line and does not take
her side, she gets angry easily. ―Jee crawling hova, Jem Who do you think you are?‖
―Now I mean it, Scout, you antagonize Aunty and I‘ll—I‘ll spank you.‖ With that, I was gone. ―You damn morphodite, I‘ll kill you‖ He was
sitting on the bed, and it was easy to grab his front hair and land one on his mouth. He slapped me and I tried another left, but a punch in the stomach
sent me sprawling on the floor. It nearly knocked the breath out of me, but it didn‘t matter because I knew he was fighting, he was fighting me back.
We were still equals p.156.
Scout gets angry easily, once she realizes that Jem does not take her side to fight against Aunt Alexandra. Jem warns Scout not to behave improperly towards their
aunt. Jem‘s action has annoyed Scout so she attacks Jem as her protest action.
4. Tough
Taking Murphy‘s theory of characterization about ―past life‖, Scout is characterized as being tough. The author describes a certain character‘s past life
directly. The description can be given through the character‘s thoughts, conversation, or through the medium of another person. In the novel, Lee
describes Scout‘s character as being tough implicitly. It can be proven from the statement
―Our mother died when I was two, so I never felt her absence‖ p.6. A two-year-old child is categorized as early childhood according to
Erikson as cited in Papalia, Olds, and Feldman 2007. During early childhood, children show the significant improvement in attention with which they process
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
