In To Kill A MockingBird, Harper Lee introduces the readers to the discriminating town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. The town of Maycomb is small with little going on and everybody knows each other. When a horrifying trial takes place between an African American named Tom Robinson and a lower-class White man named Bob Ewell, the trial brings out the real thoughts of the people in Maycomb. With this trial going on, Jean “Scout” Louise Finch has to learn to mature like her older brother in order to understand her surroundings. Scout at all costs has to avert turning into a racist and judgemental person like the rest of the town has. Scout’s father, Atticus, is defending the African American in the case and gets ridiculed for it. She has …show more content…
Scout learns over the course of the novel the various life lessons that Atticus leaves behind. Scout is oblivious to everything that is going on around her at the start of the novel. However, Atticus is trying to teach her valuable life lessons but she does not seem to notice. Uncle Jack learns about this innocence from Scout when having a conversation with her. He then passes this information to Atticus, telling him just how childish Scout. Uncle Jack forwards to Atticus ’“but{Scout} does not know the meaning of half she says—she asked me what a whore-lady was”’(99). The innocence of Scout seems to completely surprise Uncle Jack. He shows how Scout barely knows any bad words and much less the meaning of any bad word. At that age, 6 and a half, Scout should know a couple of bad words especially since she hangs out with Dill and Jem so much throughout the book. The fact that she does not know what she is saying half the time, shows how undefiled she is. When Scout and Jem receive rifles from Atticus as a …show more content…
Scout’s innocence is immensely portrayed yet again when asking her father about the things she heard around town. Scout, curious as always, questions Atticus ’“what’s rape?’ I asked {Atticus} that night”… ’“well if that’s all it is why did Calpurnia dry me up when I asked her what it was?”(154). Scout is as credulous as ever since she does not know about any crime at all, not knowing that people in society could do such malevolent deeds. However, Scout’s innocence kicks up a notch when she reveals her thoughts on how rape is not a terrible crime, she acts as if rape is a game and not a death penalty worth crime. When Mr. Cunningham arrived at the jail along with the lynching party(a group of people who hang others who they think are not worthy of living) to execute Tom Robinson, Atticus is there to defend Tom and persuade the party to leave Tom alone. Instead, the lynching party are not threatened by Atticus and decide to give him a warning to leave the jail. At the same time, Jem, Scout, and Dill were going to see Atticus and they see what was happening at the site. Suddenly, Scout jumps in and starts talking to Mr. Cunningham ’“I go to school with Walter,’ I began again. ’He’s your boy, ain’t he? Ain’t he, sir?’”(175). Scout is unaware of what the mob is actually doing there and how much danger both Atticus and Tom are in. Once again, Scout shows she doesn’t know about how
One thing that Scout learns is not to believe that everything she hears as the truth. This is a very good lesson because if you did, you become very confused because people can rarely agree on how a story went. For instance, when Scout wants to know more about Boo Radley, Stephanie Crawford gets excited because she sees this as an opportunity to open her mouth and goes on to tell Jem that, " she woke up in the middle of the night and saw him looking straight through the window at her .... said that his head was a skull" (13.) Then Jem goes further into what he heard by saying, " he dined on raw squirrel and any cats he could catch" (13.) This shows how the town compensates not knowing things about others by making up stories. Also Scout sees lies getting passed off as truth when Atticus takes on Tom Robinson as a client. Mean things are spread about Atticus and his credibility is questioned. Since Scout has a short temper and ears that hear everything she is easily offended at the comments that are said, such as the comment made by Mrs. Dubose, " Your father father's no better than the ni**ers and trash he works for." This angers Scout and Jem very much. It also shows that the town isn't happy with the moral decision's that Atticus makes and feel the need to bash him in unfair ways. Scout learns that if she keeps listening to what is said, she would go insane from not hitting anyone.
Childhood is a continuous time of learning, and of seeing mistakes and using them to change your perspectives. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how two children learn from people and their actions to respect everyone no matter what they might look like on the outside. To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story about two young kids named Scout and her older brother Jem Finch growing up in their small, racist town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the years go by they learn how their town and a lot of the people in it aren’t as perfect as they may have seemed before. When Jem and Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man in court, the town’s imperfections begin to show. A sour, little man named Bob Ewell even tries to kill Jem and Scout all because of the help Atticus gave to the black man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee illustrates the central theme that it is wrong to judge someone by their appearance on the outside, or belittle someone because they are different.
In the beginning of the book Scout is innocent from all the dirt in Maycomb. One example of Scout demonstrating her innocence is when she confronts the mob that was on their way to Tom Robinson’s jail cell and recognized Mr. Cunningham. Scout, being the six year old that she is, doesn’t understand the situation and just starts up a conversation."Hey Mr. Cunningham. How's your entailment gettin' along?...I go to school with Walter...and he does right well. He's a good boy." Scout is unlike most children her age. She “questions the injustices she sees instead of accepting them as
Slowly throughout the book, Scouts’ matureness increases and one way you can see this is because she starts understanding the way people think and she puts herself in another's shoes. Atticus gives Scout some advice that she needs to use throughout her life and it changes how she reacts to
‘ Atticus grinned dryly’ “you just told me,” he said. “ you stop this nonsense right now every one of you” Page 49. Instead of fighting back the children decide its best to listen to their father and do what they are told, testing the moral strengths of not just one child, but three. Scout had came in contact with Mr.Cunningham, little did one know a child was wiser and more intelligent than an adult which was shown when scout tries to dawn in conversation with the man little did one know it was a test in her moral strenghts that would teacher her for the next time " 'It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike -in the second place, folks don't like to have someone around knowin' more than they do. It aggravates 'em. You're not gonna change any of them by talkin' right, they've got to want to learn themselves, and when they don't want to learn there's nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.' " Page 126. Scout has been called out on being too mature causing one to have the moral strengths that their father once taught them to
Imagine what it is like to defend a black man during the 1930s, during the time where racism is a huge problem, but deep in your heart you know that it is the right thing to do. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, show the life during the 1930s through a 6-year old girl’s perspective. The story takes place in Southern Alabama, during the time of the Great Depression and other major conflicts. Living in a town, Maycomb, Jean Louise is also known as Scout, experience racism, poverty, and other problems that Maycomb suffer from. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, is a very well known lawyer in Maycomb, he stands up and accepted to defend Tom Robinson, a humble and kind black man that have been
Scout matures greatly with the help of other characters throughout the course of this novel . An example of Scout’s maturing, is when she loses her temper, and she no longer fights the people who have made her mad. At the beginning of the novel Scout would get into physical fights with the people that she got into disagreements with, but towards the end of the novel she tried to see the situation from the other person's point of view. Atticus, her father, told her “You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”(39) This is Atticus’s word of advice after Scout told him about the tussle that she got in with
Many of the scouts learning experiences are in clearly insignificant scenes. Ultimately she must learn to respect the difference in behavior between vastly different people, especially when the behavior differs from the normal as radically as in the cases of Boo Radley, Mrs. Dubose, and the Cunninghams. So early in the novel, Scout in the novel, Scout is faced with some confusing experiences at school, where she confronts a teacher who doesn’t understand why she can read and where she meets Walter Cunningham. Later, Atticus explains to her that to judge a person, you must try to see things from that person’s point of view. You must learn to walk around in his skin.
The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place in the 1930s in a small Alabama county called Maycomb. The novel is about the Finch family of three. Atticus, the father, Scout the older brother and Scout the younger sister, who acts like a tomboy. Scout may be a lady, but does not like to act like one, she likes to play and get dirty with her brother. Being young, both children learn lessons throughout the novel by many different residents, such as, Calpurnia, the maid, Miss Maudie, the neighbor, and their father, Atticus. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird various citizens in the town of Maycomb play an important role in the lives of Jem and Scout Finch
Outside the jailhouse before the trial began, Scout learned that as a child she could make angry men stand in Atticus’ shoes for a minute. There was a crowd who was made with Atticus, and they wanted to hang Tom Robinson. She talked to Walter Cunningham directly about his own family, which reminded him of what a decent person he really was. He then led the group away. (“Last night you made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough.”—Atticus (Lee, pg. 157)). Mr. Cunnigham was only in that group of people because he (and most of the other men) were afraid something bad would happen to them if they turned on Atticus’ side.
When Scout goes to the courtroom to hear Atticus speak and fight for Tom’s freedom, she realizes that Atticus is trying his hardest to defend an innocent man. Finally, Scout grows through her interest in school by learning about Hitler and the horrible historical events that have happened in the world. Her maturity is expressed by what she has learned about the world around her and can apply those things to her everyday life. Moreover, Scout has matured greatly in the novel and she has learned many lessons about life, family, and womanhood.
In addition, Scout learns about morality from Atticus after she is taunted at school. Cecil Jacobs begins giving Scout trouble at school because Atticus is defending a black man. Scout isn’t sure what he means by that or why it is such a bad thing, so she consults Atticus to learn more about the matter. Atticus explains to Scout that he is defending Tom Robinson, a black man, in a trial. Atticus says he has to do it although he knows he isn’t going to win, he says “‘ If I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t this county in the state legislature. I couldn't even tell you and Jem not to do something again’’’ (100). Atticus wants to fight for what he believes is right, even if there is almost no chance of him winning. In addition, Atticus asks Scout not to fight when someone makes comments about him or this case. Through Atticus actions, Scout learns to have integrity, even if it means making tough decisions. For example, Scout walks away from a
In the beginning Scout's childhood innocence is shown through the first day of school because she is known to act without thinking. For example, on the first day of attending to school she get criticized for knowing how to read and write by Miss. Caroline. Miss. Caroline thinks its best if she wasn’t taught by her father Atticus but Scout does not agree.
I think that over the course of this novel Scout comes out to be quite clever and forever learning new morals and ways of life. By the end of the novel she has learnt one key lesson. That she must see thing's from other people's views. She shows this in the book in the last chapter when she is standing on Boo Radley's front porch. Here is the quote on what she said: "Atticus was right.
A small city nestled in the state of Alabama, Maycomb has got its faults, just like any other place in the world, but one of its main faults or (pg.88) “Maycomb's usual disease,” as Atticus calls it in the book is prejudice. Jem and Scout learn a lot about prejudice when a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell and their father, Atticus, is called on to be his lawyer. They realize the hate that people have buried deep within their heart when they see a black man accused of doing something only because of his color. On pg.241, Scout starts understanding this and thinks, “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” As the case continues, up until the death of Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout learn more and more about prejudice and how the hate that people have towards others causes them to take wrong actions. They also see how unfair it is that a white man can get treated better and think of himself better than a black man only because he was born white. This prejudice and the trial cause Jem and Scout to get in argum...