How does Scout's view of racism change throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?

To Kill a Mockingbird is told from the perspective of Scout, a rather precocious but innocent young girl. Scout has definite opinions about herself, what it means to be a girl and how others should or should not be treated.

Being very young at the beginning of the novel, Scout's views of racism have been guided by her upbringing. She has been brought up to view blacks as she would any other human being. In this sense, racist attitudes are unfamiliar to her. Her father Atticus has taught her to view all people with respect and understanding. Scout's caretaker, Calpurnia, is an African American who Scout looks up to as she would a parent. Since Scout is so young, she has been protected from much of the racism in her community.

This all changes as the novel progresses. Scout's father takes on the job of defending a black man in court and Scout is exposed to the racist views of her classmates, views they obviously adopted from their parents. Jem and Scout are the subject of teasing at school as the trial progresses. It seems that many of the students have adopted the points of view of their parents. Being verbally attacked by these students simply because her father is defending a black man changes Scouts views of racism by the end of the novel. Scout begins to see that not everyone treats blacks as equal to whites and realizes that the problem of racism is a real one. However, with her father's help, she also comes to see that just as people have a capacity for hatred, they have a capacity for tolerance as well.