Summary:
In Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," the character of Scout learns many life lessons, including courage (as shown by Atticus), pride in one's beliefs, and the evils of prejudice.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a emotional journey for the characters and the reader. The novel is still a best seller because it deals with racial prejudice. The plot is set in 1933 and it looks over a black man named Tom Robinsons fighting for justice, he was unfairly accused of raping a white women. The accused Tom Robinsons was supported by the Finch family, mainly Atticus Finch. He tried to stand up and defend him as well as he could, despite of his efforts, the jury came up with the verdict Guilty. Through various characters, since the beginning of the book our main character, Scout, has changed greatly. The main reason for this has been the trial, and conviction of Tom Robinson. Scout has learned many new lessons, the hatred of prejudice, to forgive and never to give up on life. Though, the main thing that scout has learned is Courage.
Scout progressively grows in her character throughout the novel. She has intelligence, confidence, and thoughtfulness for a girl of her age. Throughout the novel one of the major lessons that she learns is to look at situations from a different perspective. Arthur Radley is an mysterious character, who never steps out of his house, or maintains any relation with the townspeople, yet he attempts to have an indirect friendship with the children. Boo tries to make friends with the children by placing little gifts inside the tree hole in his yard. At the beginning of the book, Scout like everyone else had first impressions on Boo that he was a criminal and a monster. (Quote) Jem gave dill a description of Boo " Boo was about six and a half feet tall, judging from his tracks; dined on raw squirrels and any cat he could catch..." it goes on to describe more rumours on his looks to Dill Pg 14.
At the end of the book, when Scout and Boo meet she learned not to judge someone because of what you have heard. This was also taught by Atticus, after Scouts first day of school she has trouble getting along with Ms. Caroline Fisher (her first grade teacher). Late that day on the porch Atticus hears Scout judging Ms. Caroline Fisher, he sits her on his lap and tells her it's not fair to judge people like that.
(Quote) "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Pg 25
She then reconsiders her opinion of Ms. Caroline Fisher and thinks; Ms. Fisher has little experience teaching and seemed very frustrated.
Prejudice is a big issue in Maycomb County, towns prejudice against Boo Radley and prejudice against Negroes. (Quote) "He's got a coca-cola bottle full of whisky in there. That's so not to upset the ladies..." Pg 177 (Dolphus Raymond is seen as a low-life alcoholic by the Maycomb white community)
Ms Dubbose said "Your farther is a no good nigger lover" Pg. 109. Atticus again plays a big role in teaching scout about prejudice. He teaches her that if any white man cheats a black man, than that white man is trash. He tries to explain to Scout why the white skinned people find it unacceptable to accept Negroes as equal.
Atticus teaches the children not to make fun of Boo. When he catches the children playing games of 'pretending' to be Boo, the game was stopped.
Miss Maudie teaches the children what is meant by civilized; How civilized Atticus, he is a good shooter with the rifle, he decided long ago that (Quote) "Atticus would only shoot when it was absolutely necessary to do so" pg 64. The children learn a lesson about how very civilized their father is and what it means to be civilized. From beginning to the end of the story you can notice great understanding in Scouts knowledge of prejudice, at the start of the novel she was complaining about how Ms Dubbose called her a Nigger lover to the end where she was sitting in the court up stairs with the entire Nigger's.
Courage, it's a quality of a person that enables him to face danger of pain without showing fear. Courage is demonstrated by various characters in the novel, Scout Finch also has learned a lot about courage during the story. It was defined by Atticus; (Quote) "real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin" he continues to explain that, "you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." Pg 57
Atticus tells Scout that if he didn't take the case of Tom Robinson, (Quotes) "this case is important to my self-esteem" and "wouldn't be able to hold his head up high in town" Pg 196. This teaches Scout to have pride for what you believe in and shows the courage of her farther. A great amount of courage was displayed by Mrs. Dubose fighting an addiction to morphine and trying to stay alive without the use of the medicine. Morphine may ease her pain but she doesn't want to die as an addict to morphine, during her courage's attempt to get of morphine, she is helped by Jem and Scout. "Mrs. Dubose is a morphine addict, she took it as a pain killer for years" Pg 123. As they went to read to her every day it was a distraction for Mrs. Dubose. She passes away after there long summer break, and Both Jem and Scout realize the truth and thought she was a great battler. (Quote) "She's dead son, she's not suffering any more. She was sick for a very long time..." Pg 123, after this event Scout had learnt many valuable lessons.
Scout too displays courage during the novel, when she tries to calm down the Mob, by talking to mob leader, Mr. Walter Cunningham. She brings up the topic of his son. Soon after Mr. Cunningham realizes that this is not what they need to be showing their children, Scout for an 8 year old she showed courage that day. (Quote) "I go to school with Walter," Scout began again "He's you boy, ain't he sir"" Pg. 169
Also during Part 2 of the novel there was hope and courage shown by all the blacks and Atticus as he fought for Tom Robinson, but there was one black man who had lost all hopes, Tom Robinson. During this event where he lost the court case he gave up and died trying to escape. Scout was devastated by this event and also learned what can happened when you loose hope and courage. "Tom was shot while trying to escape" Pg. 256
In conclusion, Scout has learned many lessons that will help her in life and during the course of the novel she did not only learn but also displayed theses lessons. The attitudes of Scout and various other characters are used to show true key elements of courage, prejudice and looking situations from another angel. The Lessons taught by Atticus, Mrs. Dubose and Tom Robinson are the highlights of the novel, because not only Scout benefiting an learning from their teachings but so is the reader.
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