Moral Issues In To Kill A Mockingbird

Imagine being a white lawyer in the 1930s and being asked to defend a black man who has been accused of raping a white woman. This is exactly what occurs in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, when Atticus Finch, a white lawyer, chooses to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, in 1935. Many people may believe Atticus Finch was wrong to have defended Tom Robinson because it put him and his family in harm’s way. However, Atticus was right to have defended Tom Robinson because Atticus knows very well that all people must be treated equally. and Atticus has to set a good example for his children.

Black and white, right and wrong; do decisions that simple and clear even exist? Does a decision ever mean gaining everything without giving anything up? Many characters in To Kill A Mockingbird are forced to make difficult, heart wrenching decisions that have no clear right answer. Harper Lee presents many of these important decisions in To Kill A Mockingbird as ethical dilemmas, or situations that require a choice between two difficult alternatives. Both of these alternatives have unpleasant aspects and question morals and ethics. A person is put in an awkward position, with their mind saying contradicting things. These dilemmas are presented in many different ways. The

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 characters in, To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, often use prejudice against people of controversial issues. Many of the townspeople of Maycomb use prejudice on the families who are on the less wealthy end of the spectrum. Issues are still displayed because of the racial prejudice used against African Americans and those of other races. Lastly, gender is a clear issue in Maycomb because of women’s and girl’s rights and lack of respect towards them because they are female. All of the types of prejudice show that Maycomb has many problems all throughout the town between other families and townspeople.

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”).

G.K Chesterton quotes, “I say that a man must be certain of his morality for a simple reason that he has to suffer for it.” Harper Lee’s novel To Kill Mockingbird tells the story of a character who makes moral and ethical decisions while facing many problems. Atticus Finch is a man of unshakable morals. This is demonstrated through him teaching his children morals and him fighting for what is right.

All except one were falsely sentenced to death. The 1931 Scottsboro case and JFK’s “Address on Civil Rights” demonstrate issues of morality and justice as portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird; they signify acts of racism, inequality ,and disrespect during this time. These three sources display the measures of racism and inequality that were common during this time. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus--Scout and Jem’s father--defends Tom Robinson while he is on trial for allegedly raping Mayella Ewell. Tom, a man of color, is falsely accused of this crime.

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 story To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper lee writes the story from the perspective from Scout, a six year old girl. While this perspective seems, at first, perfect for this kind of story, but there are some issues involving this. However, will it affect the way the story goes? This kind of storytelling has some advantages for the book.

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

In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, a Pulitzer Prize winner, there is one significant theme that develops over the course of the story, which is about “climbing into somebody’s skin” or observing the world from another person’s perspective to understand their true feelings (p.36). Several characters, such as Scout, Jem, and their father, Atticus, apply this lesson to the way they understand the world.

Sometimes the right choice is not always the easy choice. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a lawyer, and father, Atticus, makes the difficult decision to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, in court. Atticus and his children, Scout and Jem, live in the very prejudiced town of Maycomb, Alabama. While trying to raise and teach his children, Atticus is asked to defend Tom in court. He decides to take the case, despite the fact that they will most likely lose. Atticus made the right decision when he took Tom Robinson’s case because he wanted to prove prejudice wrong, it was the kinder, more respectful decision, and he wanted to teach his kids an important lesson.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee. Lee’s purpose for writing To Kill Mockingbird is to show the race relations in the South before the civil rights movement took place. Through the novel of Harper Lee, she presented and showed Tom Robinson’s ultimate conviction of the jury, the discriminatory life and ways of the white community in Maycomb, and how Tom Robinson and Boo Radley symbolized the symbol of the mockingbird. In To Kill a Mockingbird, literary elements such as symbolism are effective, eloquent, and strong. This novel is significant by teaching important, valuable moral lessons within it.

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.

The moral of To Kill a Mockingbird(TKAM) is shown all throughout the book. The characters are talking about it from the beginning of the book even to the end of the book on why some people and things haven’t done anything to you but yet people still have a problem with them. Jem and his sister Scout are the children of Atticus Finch, a hard working and caring lawyer. In the book the kids get told a moral by Atticus that it is a sin to Kill a Mockingbird. Later in the book the kids realize that he is right and there are signs of karma, racism and they realize that there society is not perfect because of what the moral means.