Exploration of Human Morality Bo Bennett once said, “Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization.” This statement by Bennett exemplifies the development of many initial characters within the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. In the book, author Harper Lee is trying to illustrate the key theme of understanding. Scout ultimately makes the characteristic transition from innocence to maturity/understanding. She starts off thinking everyone understands the same and adheres to the same values she and her father do. As Jem leads the change, she eventually starts to realize that society is not as …show more content…
Miss Caroline is a newcomer who misunderstands the social order of Maycomb and punishes Scout for trying to explain it. Scout on the other hand wishes to leave school after the first day explaining to Atticus “the day’s misfortunes--and she said you taught me all wrong, so we can’t ever read any more, ever. Please don’t send me back, please sir” (39). Scout was not considerate of Miss Caroline and her ideas of teaching. Atticus then explains that “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… We could not expect her to learn all Maycomb’s ways in one day, and we could not hold her responsible when she knew no better” (39). Scout is still learning this concept through Atticus’s lectures and this being the first initial introduction to the lesson of understanding. Miss Caroline is the first character Scout stumbles upon that does not adhere to the same things she does. This being unfamiliar to her drives Scout to put herself in others situations. The more individuals Scout encounters the more Scout learns to do
One way the main character, Scout, learns that before they judge someone they need to walk in that person’s shoes and understand them is through her first grade teacher. In the beginning of the book, Scout was starting school, she was going into first grade and she had a new teacher named Miss Caroline. Miss Caroline wasn't from Maycomb, she was from Winston
If you were a parent would you want the best for your kids? Would you want to teach them to search out for the true meaning of dignity and respect? This was the goal of one father, Atticus Finch. Being a nearly fifty-year-old man with extremely young children he wanted to share his wisdom and firsthand experiences with his children to shape them into a respectable young man and woman. Throughout his life, Atticus is taught many experiences himself about not judging someone, and to stand up for the helpless and defenseless. Some important morals that he carried through to teach his children in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is to never judge someone by their social class or race, and to fight for the justice of all the people of Maycomb.
Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist and educator known for his theory of moral development. He was a professor at Harvard University before he was a developmental psychologist. He later moved into the field of moral education. Jean Piaget (Swiss psychologist), John Dewey (American philosopher), and James Mark Baldwin (American philosopher and psychologist) all influenced Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, though Piaget 's work heavily influenced Kohlberg’s. Kohlberg ran tests to prove his theory.He tested 72 boys from middle and lower class families who were either 10, 13 or 16. Later in his research, he tested both boys and girls from different states and countries other than Chicago. Kohlberg found
After Scout returns home from her first day of school, Atticus notices her sulking behavior. She confides in him that Miss Caroline punished her for explaining the Cunningham’s poor financial situation. Yet, due to the fact that Miss Caroline was new and unfamiliar to the townspeople, she only became confused and frustrated by Scout’s explanation. Atticus explains that “…They could not expect her to learn all Maycomb’s ways in one day, and we could not hold her responsible when she knew no better” (Lee 40). Miss Caroline’s ignorance compared to Scout’s knowledge demonstrates how what may come easy to some is actually harder to come by for others. Thus, it’s not fair to expect one to know something nobody had ever taught them. Instead, the use
Throughout the course of your life, there are people who you look up to that teach you right from wrong, guide your beliefs, and open up your mind to what is important in life. In the novel “To kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, there are three individuals that contribute to the development of Jem and Scout’s morality and life values. Atticus, Boo Radley, and Aunt Alexandra, are three influential people in the novel that shape who Jem and Scout will become as adults. Atticus teaches Jem and Scout accepted behaviour in society. He taught Scout how to read and continued to do so, even though Miss Caroline claimed that if Atticus kept teaching Scout, it would interfere with her reading at school. Since Atticus continued to teach her, Miss Caroline got angry and told Scout that her father does not know how to teach
Jem came upon a realization and immediately coped with it internally. Scout, whereas looks to others to help her comprehend her loss of innocence. Their moral growth differs because of their preexisting levels of maturity and how they deal with their loss of innocence.
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.
Lawrence Kohlberg is known for his theory of moral development developed in 1958. His theory was dependent on the thinking of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and American philosopher John Dewey. It consists of three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. These levels are based on the degree to which an individual accommodates to the conventional standards of society. Each level aquires two stages that serve as different standards of sophistication in moral reasoning. Overall, Kohlberg affirms that moral development is a process of maturing that emerges from thinking about about moral issues (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”).
When I think about humanity I think of the book "To kill a Mockingbird" I go to this book because its a prime example of humanity, it shows in the 1930's that some to most white people in the south did not have any to no respect for the african american's they where accused of almost everything even if they did not do kinda of like how Tom Robinson was accused of raping May-Ella Ewell, Tom was sent to jail for something he did not do. What they sent the whole Robinson family through was cruel even since he was innocent but back then the people thought differently on what was cruel and what was not cruel another part that does not show humanity is later on when Tom Robinson is in jail he gets killed for being african american and since he was
An award winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird was brilliantly written by author Harper Lee, intertwining multiple themes to create a classic piece of American literature to represent white southern ethics of the 1930s. A common theme throughout the novel, hypocrisy is a method for Harper Lee to communicate an underlying message to readers. Hypocrisy reflects how societies, communities and the church benefits from it as a means for being ignorant of oneself’s wrongdoings and sins, placing blame elsewhere as a matter of cynical pride, no doubt hurting others in the process. An example of a character who effectively represents southern hypocrisy is Miss Mayella Ewell, who cynically condemns Tom Robinson to preserve the little remains of her
To Kill a Mockingbird is a historical fiction novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in Alabama during the time of segregation. This novel conveys many themes such as hypocrisy, discrimination, and prejudice. Religious hypocrisy and lack of empathy is also found in this novel and contributes to those three themes. Religious hypocrisy is stating that you are a follower of that religion, however your actions directly contradict that. Empathy is when, as Atticus stated it, “you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 3).
Morality is not a virtue that many can tolerate without a conscience. It was considered the critical awareness of humanity's standards of conduct that are accepted as proper. Yet, for Scout, morality becomes not only a principle, but also a necessity in order for her to survive in the prejudiced society of Maycomb County. It is solely the essence of ethics that causes her to frown upon the injustices brought about by intolerance. Thus, Scout's maturity towards understanding the vitality of morality allows her to become a noble individual in an unjust social order.
A moral: “To be concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour, and the goodness or badness of a character”. Harper Lee’s, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, evidently shows the importance of morals, and how Jem and Scout's development is affected and modified as the plot unfolds. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, there are multiple debatable morals induced by Jem and Scout, and both their ways of being. Scout was able to progress throughout the plot, exceeding herself along the way. Jem as well had an increase of growth as the novel developed.
In the book to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a young girl is being put through a variety of challenges that have set her up to learn about aspects of life. Scout, the young girl is being put through situations throughout the book, and is going through different moral developments that have been set up into three levels by Kohlberg, a psychologist. Kohlberg gathered this information by giving people of different ages, different questions that would identify their moral stage (“Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development”). For example, some of the questions would be; if you were trapped in a room full of innocent people and someone dying would be the only way to save everyone else in the room would you risk yourself? On that
In Harper Lees’s masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird, moral education is a theme that only seems to bloom within the Finch household and is severely lacking in all of Maycomb County. The main character, Scout Finch, is growing in an environment where manners and education matter, this is a quality that can be attributed to the teachings of Atticus Finch and Calpurnia. In a world that is corrupted by prejudice, moral education is form of behavior that stands out, Harper Lee provides examples of this in Calpurnia’s discipline at home, Atticus’s ethical guidance and explanations for the reasoning behind his defense of Tom Robinson, and Scout’s bewilderment at Ms. Gate’s hypocrisy. Moral education is a theme that plays a core role in the development of the title characters as well as the deterioration of the town’s moral standards.