In the book To Kill a Mockingbird many people influence the way Scout and Jem think. The different beliefs scattered throughout the novel are greatly challenging for the children to understand. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird the characters of Scout and Jem grow a great deal due to the pressures of being innocent and being considered "mockingbirds", Tom Robinson's trial, and their first encounter with Boo Radley.

The children in the novel are considered "mockingbirds" and shouldn't be harmed or influenced. The fact that the children were so innocent to begin with helps them to grow up when they meet the problems faced in the novel. Miss Maudie tells Scout "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up peoples gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's...