Life Lessons Atticus Learned In To Kill A Mockingbird

The historical fiction novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is talking about two children, Jem and Scout, that live in Maycomb, Alabama during a time of racism. Their father, Atticus, raises Jem and Scout after his wife dies at a young age. Additionally, while Jem and Scout are out trying to get Boo Radley to come out, Atticus is working on a law case where a black man is falsely accused of raping a white woman. Sadly, after all the hard work Atticus put into the case, he lost. Atticus teaches Jem and Scout important life lessons after different incidents occur.

The first incident where Atticus teaches Scout a lesson happens after her first day of school. Going into first grade, one should not know how to read or write, in this case,

Jem and Scout are walking home from shooting things when they see a mad dog; they start running home to tell Cal, who then calls Atticus. Atticus and Mr. Heck Tate head to the scene and “Atticus’s hand yanked a ball-tipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulder” (page 127). Not only does Atticus keep telling Jem and Scout to be careful, but all along Atticus has been, and still is the best shooter in Maycomb. Jem and Scout get riffles from their Uncle Jack, as they are getting ready to leave, Atticus starts saying to them “ ‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’ ” (page 119). All this time, Atticus knows how to shoot and keeps on warning Jem and Scout to be careful. He is constantly reminding them not to kill a mockingbird from experience, also teaching the a moral. The moral is as if the mockingbird is a nigger, meaning black people cause no harm to you, they just live in a town minding their own

Throughout the story, Scout and Jem have an obsession with finding out about the mysterious Mr. Arthur “Boo” Radley. The rumors have been spreading from character to character about the phantom Boo Radley stabbing his father. Additionally, Jem hears descriptions of Boo Radley and then tells Scout “Boo was about six- and- a- half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch… his eyes dropped, and he drooled most of the time” (page 16). Everyone in the novel excpects Boo Radley to be a horrible man who feeds on raw animals and a man stabbing his father. As a young boy, Boo was hanging out with the wrong crowd, than with no crowd; people expected from a vulnerable man such things, when really they continuously make these assumptions. Subsequently, Jem and Scout are walking home from the Halloween Beauty Pageant when Mr Ewell starts attacking them. Scout realizes that there were not three people by the attack, but four; Boo Radley was there under the tree saving Jem and Scout. When Scout realizes who saved her, she goes over to Atticus and says he’s really nice. With a smile on his face, Atticus states an important message saying “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them’ ” (page 376). There has been a theme throughout this book, people judging people without knowing them. Atticus’ message is