Psychosocial Development: A Study of Developmental Psychology in Harper Lee’s Novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is to elucidate how the novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee reflect the notions of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Erikson has stated that the social surroundings of a person are vital for his growth, adaptation and development of self-identity. This paper elucidates the various aspects that lead to positive and negative psychosocial developments in the characters using certain social situations in the novel. The characters who experience favourable psychosocial developments display an industrious nature, a strong sense of identity, productivity and the ability to form meaningful relationships. However, some characters show negative psychosocial developments resulting in inferiority, unproductiveness, lack of identity and an inability to form meaningful relationships. The aims and objectives of this research are to show the importance of parenting in the development of positive behaviour in children, to understand the psyche of children and adults using literature to solve problems like inferiority, loneliness and lack of identity. Finally, the result shows that the child characters are influenced by their parents and teachers in acquiring positive and negative developments. The teenage characters who explore the world develop a strong sense of identity. The young adult characters who manage to make meaningful relationships evade loneliness, and the adult characters who are hardworking and productive reflect a sense of generativity.