Throughout the story, Jean Louise struggles with disillusionment as she begins to notice the significant disparity between her perception and reality. She enters Maycomb with a set of beliefs and expectations regarding its people. She expects the local townsfolk to be judgmental and backward, with a racist majority. While this is largely true, she fails to see the way that the town has changed, the emergence of a new social class, how people watch her interactions with Hank, and how they laugh off her misbehavior while judging Hank for the same acts. Uncle Jack also argues that more of Maycomb’s people agree with Jean Louise’s sociopolitical views than she thinks. Part of Jean Louise’s journey of personal growth includes opening her eyes to the way Maycomb is in the present versus the way she perceived it in her childhood.

The difference between Jean Louise’s perception of the people she loves and the people themselves is a more prominent aspect of this theme. While she is shocked and horrified by Aunt Alexandra’s apparent racism, what is more upsetting is the reality that her beau and, worse, her idolized father hold these same beliefs. Specifically, Jean Louise expects Hank to be courageous and her father to be just.