What are examples of indirect and direct characterizations of Scout Finch in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

An author
creates indirect when, instead of telling the reader exactly what
the character is like, the author implies or shows what the character is
like. An author can show a reader what a character is like through the
character's actions, dialogue between other , or even through the character's thoughts. In
, authordefinitely uses far moreto inform her readers of whatis like rather
than .

We see the first example of indirect
characterization of Scout in the very first chapter.
Here, grown-up Scout is narrating for us what her childhood was like. At one point in the
chapter, she particularly describes in detail what Calpurnia, the Finch family cook, was like.
Though she uses direct characterization to describe Calpurnia, she uses indirect
characterization to describe herself when she describes Calpurnia's
attitude toward her when she was a child. Specifically, Scout describes that
Calpurnia was always shooing Scout out of the kitchen and asking, as Scout phrases it, "why
I couldn't behave as well aswhen she knew he was older." She further relays that Calpurnia
was always ordering her home when she didn't yet want to come home, and their "battles were
epic and one-sided."

Through these indirect
descriptions, we actually learn a great deal about
Scout. First, we learn that Scout was very stubborn as a child, and her
stubbornness was, in part, due to still being very young. We also learn that Scout was very
opinionated and even argumentative as a child. Scout is definitely not as mild-mannered as her
older brother Jem.

In contrast to indirect characterization, an author
creates direct characterization by coming right out and describing
to the reader exactly what the character is like. The Literary Devices
dictionary provides us the following example of direct characterization:

Bill was short and fat, and his bald spot was widening with every
passing year. ( href="http://www.literarydevices.com/characterization/">"Characterization")

Though direct characterization is seldom used in describing Scout,
we can keep in mind that even clothing descriptions
count as characterization because what a character wears can say a
great deal about the character. We see Scout as the adult narrator using direct
characterization to describe herself when towards the end of the novel, in ,
Scout describes the ham costume she has been assigned to wear for
the first-ever Maycomb Halloween pageant.

Scout describes that Mrs.
Crenshaw, "the local seamstress," bent chicken wire into the shape of a ham and
covered it with painted brown cloth. But, one of the the most amusing descriptions is found when
Scout as the narrator relays, "Jem said I looked exactly like a ham with
legs."

The description of Scout's costume is actually very
revealing and closely ties in with things we already know about Scout. The term
ham has become anto describe someone who acts
up and is comical in their overacting. Throughout the book, we have certainly seen
Scout act as a ham.

href="http://www.literarydevices.com/characterization/">http://www.literarydevices.com/characterization/