Summary:
A psychologist named Lawrence Kohlberg made a model of moral development explaining what motivates a person to act as he or she does and there are six levels to his model. It related to the characters in "to Kill a Mockingbird" and how these stages are applied to these characters.
A psychologist named Lawrence Kohlberg made a model of moral development explaining what motivates a person to act as he or she does. There are six levels to his model. A person who is Level 1 act to avoid pain or punishment, Level 2 act to get a reward, Level 3 act to gain approval, Level 4 act because of belief in the law, Level 5 act for the welfare of others, and Level 6 act because of a self-formulated set of principles. Kohlberg believes that this model can be applied to anyone. This model could also work for characters at the end of the book To Kill a Mocking Bird.
The characters Bob Ewell, Mayella, Dill, and Mrs.Dubose can be described as a Level 1. Bob Ewell acted to avoid pain or punishment throughout the book. He beat her daughter, Mayella, as well as his other children to forget the pain of his poor living and not being a good parent. Mayella also acted this way to get away from getting beaten by her father. She was scared of the constant beating so she lied about her story about Tom Robinson. Dill ran away from his home to get away from his uncaring parents. He also went out of the court when he was sick of looking at the prejudice against Tom Robinson. Mrs.Dubose kept on badmouthing her neighbors to get away from her morphine addiction. She made Jem read to her everyday after school because she was very lonely.
Aunt Alexandra and Scout can be categorized as a Level 3. Aunt Alexandra always thought about what the others might think. She didn't want Atticus to take the case because it wouldn't look good to the people in the town. She also told Scout to act like a lady in front of her lady friends. However, at the end of the book, she did realize the true meaning of being a lady. Scout tried to fit in with the boys by not acting like a girl. As the story progressed, she did become more mature and wanted to be like a lady. She wanted to please Aunt Alexandra and her friends in the ladies' meeting.
Many characters such as Jem, Cal, Miss Maudie, and Boo can be thought of as level 5. Jem was kind of a level 3 in the beginning because he did what he was dared, but he eventually he grew mature. He considered about others strongly. He felt sorry for Dill's mother for being worried so he told Atticus about Dill. He also wanted to protect Scout during the trip back from the pageant to their house. Cal thought deeply about the Finches' family and her church members. She helped the family through the Tom Robinson crisis even though it wasn't really her part of job. She didn't want the church members to feel bad about their ignorance so she talked like her kind at least when she was in church. Miss Maudie constantly baked cakes for the kids. She gave Atticus good advices although it wasn't really her business. Although it wasn't really shown in the book, I believe she was a great influence to the kids because she explained many things to the children that they were curious about. Boo wasn't actually expressed much in the book but I think he really cared about Jem and Scout. He made soap dolls and gave his only treasures for them, sewed up Jem's pants, and covered Scout during the fire, and the most important of all, saved their lives.
I believe Atticus and Tom was Level 6. Atticus took the case of Tom because of his conscience. He had his beliefs and followed it. He said to kill a mockingbird was a sin. Because of this, he let Heck Tate cover for Boo Radley. He told the Robinson family that they should never send him food again. He told his children that making fun of Boo was wrong. At the end of the book, Atticus was beat mentally but he did not fail to follow his beliefs. Tom also had his beliefs. When Mayella was kissing him, he knew it was wrong so he ran away. In the trial, Tom believed that it was not good for the children to hear about his story so he was very careful when he was telling about it. He believed that he had more chance escaping than winning so he followed his decision.
Kohlberg's model can show what motivated the characters in the To Kill a Mockingbird to act. Bob Ewell, Mayella, Mrs. Dubose and Dill acted to avoid pain or punishment. Aunt Alexandra and Scout acted to gain approval. Jem, Cal, Miss Maudie, and Boo acted for the welfare of others. Tom and Atticus acted by their beliefs. I think everyone act with different levels at different situations.
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