Jean Louise “Scout” Finch is a college-educated, 26-year-old, white resident of New York City. She is the story’s protagonist, fulfilling the archetype of the hero, but also exhibiting traits associated with the archetype of the innocent. She is courageous and stubborn with a strong sense of justice, but also naïve and ignorant of the world around her. Jean Louise is depicted as a rebellious contrarian, eager to circumvent the white South’s expectations of proper decorum, both in her personal lifestyle and in her political ideology. When confronted with an opposing view point, she digs in her heels, relying more on her own will and sense of right and wrong than a well-reasoned argument.

On her annual trip to her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama, Jean Louise discovers that things are changing at a pace that she is not comfortable with, leading her to escape the present through rosy retrospection. She takes further sanctuary in the past when she realizes that her father holds racist views that she cannot abide. This realization leads to an identity crisis as she must ultimately develop her own moral reasoning and identity distinct from her false perceptions of her father’s.