Perhaps the most obviously display of dislike between children and adults in To Kill a Mockingbird is seen in Chapter 11 between Jem and Mrs. Dubose. Jem and Scout never cared for the old woman, who frightens them with her sharp tongue and nearby Confederate pistol. After she ridicules Scout and likens Atticus to "the niggers and trash he works for," Jem chops down her camellia bushes.

Another example is the pairing of young Burris Ewell and Scout's first grade teacher, Miss Caroline. Although Miss Caroline shows no ill will toward Burris, she is repulsed by the visible lice crawling in his hair. When she tells him to go home and come back bathed, Burris lashes out at her. "You try and make me, missus," he tells her. As he leaves the classroom, he calls Miss Caroline "a snot-nosed slut."