Essay On Nurture In To Kill A Mockingbird

Rosa Parks once famously said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” Through the use of this quote, Rosa Parks stresses the importance of making one’s children aware of racism. More specifically, Rosa Parks wishes for others to make their children aware of the negative impact racism could have to themselves and the people around them. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a constantly recurring topic is racism. Racism appears throughout many scenarios in the book and is the reason Tom Robinson is on trial for the rape of Miss Mayella Ewell. Racism, although a negative societal issue, affects maturing children by providing them insight into not only the society around them but,

"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." A quote by Atticus Finch a loving single father of two children in a novel by Harper Lee. The story takes place during the 1930s and the Great Depression, in a small (made-up) town called Maycomb Alabama. Scout now an adult is narrating what she experienced and felt in ages 6-9. She gives details of her family, school, and just everything she goes through. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, she also talks about her brother Jem, who starts as a careless young boy that slowly starts getting more mature. Jem changing throughout the story helps show a little bit more of how the story develops and why character development is important in making a good novel.

Family is like a roller coaster and is always changing and adapting as is needed. One day, a family may be permissive and allow their children to do as they please. However, the next day, the parents may feel it is necessary to use a dictatorial style where everything they say is essentially the law of the house. The last parenting style, authoritative, is when the rules are consistent and the parents are flexible. Depending on which of these styles a parent uses, the child will grow up in a different atmosphere that can influence their personality. This is the idea of nurture, whereas the idea of nature would be that the genetics of the parents, not their parenting style, is what decides the children’s characteristics. Arguably, authoritative parenting is the most effective and reliable, whereas permissive parenting can lead to a lack of stability within a family.

Lawrence Kohlberg, a professor at Harvard, creates a theory of human moral development. Since his theory was an expansion of Jean Piaget moral development of children, he elucidates of his theory to have series of stages. Each stage were categorized into three levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. During each level there are 2 stages which are consequent for moral development because they are action that manifest on who we are.

One of the longest running discussions in psychology is the nature vs nurture debate. That is, is human behavior influenced more by environmental factors in one’s life, such as parents, or by genetics and biological factors? In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is described as an outstanding role model for his children, Jem and Scout, teaching them morals, discipline, and important lessons such as the acceptance of those who are different. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes Hester Prynne as a strong and independent woman who, despite the circumstances, is a role model for her daughter, Pearl. In spite of having a drunkard for a father, Huck Finn, from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is

Scout is one of many characters in the historical fiction book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee that develop as the story progresses. She grows throughout the novel by becoming more aware of her surroundings as the story progresses and reveals more to the reader. Also, Scout over the course of the book starts to realize what kind of man Boo Radley actually is and begins to trust him more towards the end of the book. She even walks with him and talks to him as if he were a friend of her, which he could very well be at the end of the book. Finally, Scouts morals develop by in the beginning of the book having started at level one of Kohlberg's moral development chart, but towards the end of the book reaching level two.

In books, many characters go through moral development. The book To Kill A Mockingbird shows many examples of characters that go through this development and characters that help others develop. While there are many different characters in the book, the focus is on the development of Jem and Scout Finch with the help of Atticus and Calpurnia. The kids are introduced when they are young and over the span of the book, the adults teach and help them, making them have a different understanding of the world only two years later. With the guidance of Atticus and Cal, Jem and Scout go through a big moral change.

The way and rate that people mature at can be directly attributed to the values and beliefs of the society that surrounds an individual. It is undeniable that society’s perspective on many controversial issues will generally be adopted by the younger generations in a given society. Moreover, the exposure to significant events, coupled with the major influence of family members, can have an enormous impact on how an individual matures. Additionally, family members greatly help each other develop into moral adults by instilling in each other values that will ultimately determine an individual’s character. In Harper Lee’s timeless classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, the constant reiteration of Atticus Finch’s values, in

One of the main, and most controversial topics discussed in a child’s development is, nature vs. nurture. Nature pertains to genetic influences that a child has inherited from their parents, such as traits, abilities, and capacities. For instance, what color eyes the child may have, how athletic they may be, and even their brain development. Whereas nurture, refers to the environment the child is raised in and how this shapes their behaviors. Such factors can include, the family’s socio-economic status, schooling, parental discipline, as well as whether the child is provided with enough resources. When it comes to nature or nurture having a stronger influence then the other, the answer is both, nature and nurture, influence the outcome of the child. This idea that both nature and nurture, play a part in how the child will develop, is known as the nature-nurture continuum.

Another presence of judgment in the novel is present in the character of Bob Ewell, an oblivious, grimy, abusive father, who looks down upon Negroes, believing he can take full advantage of them because he is of the white race. Scout declares that, “all [Bob Ewell] had that made him any better than his [Black] neighbors was, that if he scrubbed with lye soap in very hot water, his skin was white” (Lee 229). This indicates that the population of Maycomb judges primarily on race instead of morals, ethics, income, personality, or lifestyle, which further proves the segregation occurring within the South. This excerpt means that the community is more accepting of an unmannerly, poor, and often-drunk man rather than an honest, harmless black man, such as Tom Robinson. Skin color is the main eparation of the people for it determines who are neglected and who are treated like royalty. Furthermore, Mr. Ewell verifies his prejudiced nature, when, “[h]e stood up and pointed his finger at Tom Robinson. ‘I seen that black nigger yonder rutttin’ on my Mayella’” (Lee 231). This further reveals Mr. Ewell’s biased behavior because it presents him mistreating Tom Robinson. Lee uses words

Bob Ewell is known for being labeled as one of the lower classes amongst the whites in Maycomb, lacking a sense of equality, especially his rancor towards other races. He refers to a black person’s home as a “n**ger-nest” and worries that they are “dangerous to live around”( Lee 199). He represents the dark side of the South by growing accustomed to the racial stereotypes since birth, leading him to defame Tom Robinson for the false accusation of raping his daughter, Mayella Ewell. During Bob’s testification, he points his finger at him and utters that “[ He] seen that black n**ger ruttin’ on his Mayella”( Lee 196). The way he phrases his accusation dehumanizes Tom, emphasizes his race over everything else, and compares Tom to a beast, with “rutting” usually applied to animals, signifying a man vs man conflict. Furthermore, the theme of racial prejudice is clearly evident in Maycomb, with the negative attitude thriving on the manipulation of morals concerning blacks.

“Even among the poor whites, there were social divisions: at the bottom of the social rung, even below the poorest whites, were those who only two generations before would have been slaves. In To Kill a Mockingbird, this poor white bigotry was personified through Bob Ewell”(Mancini, Candice 9). Tom Robinson was known for being and honest man in the black community. He would go to church often and he was a family man. In contrast, Bob Ewell was the town drunk and was by no means a model citizen. Clearly the better man was Tom but due to his race, many people believed Bob and Mayella Ewell when they said that Tom had raped Mayella. In reality, Mayella kissed Tom, “she was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in [their] society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man … a strong young Negro man”(Lee, Harper 204). At the time Lee was growing up, whites and blacks were still segregated and it was inconceivable that the two races consort.

“‘Mr. Ewell?...Why, Atticus said they were absolute trash-I never heard Atticus talk about folks the way he talked about the Ewells,’” Scout says talking to Reverend Sykes about the court case (Lee 164). In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mr. Ewell is a citizen of Maycomb, Alabama who is looked down upon in the town. In everyone’s eyes he is the worst citizen and should not be trusted, but there is one group of people that is hated more and that is the African-Americans. Mr. Ewell accuses a black man, Tom Robinson, of raping his daughter Mayella. He wins the court case due to the racism in the town, even though it is obvious that Tom did not do it. Who actually hurt Mayella was Mr. Ewell because he saw Mayella kiss Tom. A white woman

A family has been ship wrecked on a deserted island. You have no food or water or any other belongings with you and you don’t think you will be getting off this island anytime soon. This is what happens to the narrator of the story of The Swiss Family Robinson and his family. The narrator is a father of four sons named Fritz, Ernest, Jack, and little Frances and a husband of Elizabeth Robinson. The father possesses many great skills, such as wisdom, quick thinking, physical skills, and many others.

Earlier in the novel, Scout relates that Atticus views the Ewell family as “the disgrace of Maycomb” (33). However, as the Ewells are a white family, they are having a higher social status. During the trial, it is declared that Mayella seduces Tom Robinson, and her father, Bob Ewell, thought that his daughter would shift her warm feelings for a black man. In addition, Bob Ewell’s reaction to his daughter kissing to Tom Robinson displays the fear of miscegenation. Atticus, however, strives for justice. Atticus explains the ugly truth to Jem and Scout: “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (251-252). Atticus shows disgust with white people taking advantage of a black person’s ignorance” (252). Tom Robinson is facing a trial and the death sentence because he is black. Furthermore, Atticus makes it clear to his children that racism exists and tells Scout and Jem: 'In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always