Write about the advantages and disadvantages of having Scout as the author.

This is an interesting question. The only disadvantage
that I can see of having Scout as the narrator is that only one perspective is
presented. She is not omniscient. Additionally, this is a memory piece, so we have an
adult looking back in time and speaking through the voice of a child. This can be
problematical because, as time passes, the way that we view events changes. Scout is
remembering the past and telling us about the past but with the knowledge ahead of time
as to how things work out. This can be a disadvantage because there is a built in
narrative bias that colors the reader's perception of
events.

As to the advantages of having Scout as the
narrator, the firat one that I can think of is the fact that she is so close to the
source. She lived the events, so she has an eye-witness perspective. Also, because this
story is told through the eyes of a child, there is a truth and honesty in the telling
that might not exist if it were told through an adult's view of the world. Children are
less jaded, for the most part. They are not molded by society, and they tend to see
things in terms of black and white, right and wrong, without societal prejudgements (for
instance, Scout sees nothing wrong with being at Calpurnia's church, and she sees
everything wring with labeling Tom Robinson as a bad man just because of the color of
his skin). At the same time, she also feels the pressure from the adult world when
people begin to turn against her because Atticus is defending Tom. She does not
understand why the town is turning against them. Yet the simple fact that she does not
fully understand makes the narrative even more powerful for, when we look at the world
through the eyes of a child, things are often much simpler and
clearer.