Scout Finch's Life Lessons

Instead of explaining to his children how the white society should treat others of a different race, he teaches his kids about equality. He says to Scout: "I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you" (Lee 144). In other words, Atticus declares that he does his best to love everybody, which teaches Scout that she should not judge or mistreat others by race, but to give equal respect to all mankind. Moreover, Atticus gives his children a perspective on what real courage is. He says to Scout: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (Lee 149). Atticus’ statement gives Scout a lesson. She learns that courage is not doing a hard task and being able to succeed in it. It is about believing in something and doing your best to achieve it, even though you may not succeed. Atticus teaches his kids moral values by telling them the act of true courage and leads them to the path of

From this, one can see that Scout is still in a juvenile state of mind. Furthermore, one can see how the beliefs of the townspeople have been transferred to Scout, who had taken them as they are considered the social norm. She unknowingly accepts their racism when she thinks of Dolphus Raymond as a “sinful man” because he associates himself with black people and “…had mixed children and didn’t care who knowed it.” (201) She does not understand why he freely displays his transgression to the town when it is acknowledged as a wrong thing to do in Maycomb. However, Scout slowly starts to develop her own sense of right and wrong and create her own judgments of others. Boo was once the monster of her childhood, but after witnessing his cordial and courageous actions, she realizes that “he hadn’t done any of those things…he was real nice.” (281) In the end, Scout matures and sheds her childhood nickname to become the young lady called “Jean Louise” by family and friends. (211, 224, 229) This change in Scout is a result of her loss of innocence and is a focal point in the novel to give a thought-provoking perspective on the events of the book.

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the main protagonist Jean Louise “Scout” Finch from Maycomb County, Alabama, goes on a strenuous moral journey thats problems will shape her to be the character she is. Throughout the story, Scout and her family face many challenges that test, but also prove, her ruling personality trait of compassion and the potential to not judge others. She also displays her ability to be perceptive of people and see life from their point of view when her father Atticus takes on the job of defending Tom Robinson, a black man, who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. When he gets called on to do this, he opens his family up to harassment and ridicule by the townsfolk. Scout doesn’t quite understand why he decides to take on a case like that, but he explains to her that,

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a prominent theme used by Lee is courage in the youth of Maycomb’s society. This is shown through Jem, Scout and Dill. For Jem, he informs Atticus that Dill has run away to the Finch family home, while Scout runs through the mob. Dill shows courage through being the one to first suggest touching the Radley house. The actions of these characters project Atticus’s definition of courage because he defines courage as, “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway…”. In the situations the children face, they know that it is a risk to do what they’re about to do, but they continue.

Atticus teaches her that courage is more than what most people perceive it as. Her father describes “real courage” as knowing “you’re licked before you begin but [beginning] anyway” (149). Scout understands this after seeing that Mrs. Dubose was a courageous woman who did not fit her initial description of courage. Atticus displays this type of courage when he is defending Tom Robinson.

Some people say that Scout, the little innocent girl of Maycomb, has been taught some bad things and some wrong things from school and the people around her; others would say the otherwise. The book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there is many argumentative topics. This essay will be covering both sides of whether or not Scout was educated with the right things, or emmersed with what he could have processed either good or bad. Scout’s father, Atticus, taught him until he was old enough to go to public school. Scout’s teacher says he has been taught very poorly by his father Atticus.

Other people, like Dolphus Raymond, were also thought of by Jem and Scout to be a bad person with little evidence to support it in the beginning of the novel. Jem and Scout make false inferences about him with very little to support it. Raymond knows that his actions cause the people of Maycomb to look down on him, so he pretends to act drunk all the time to make life easier from himself. Raymond tries to overshadow his racial relations by acting drunk, and we know this because he explains, “I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason” (268).

“Hey, Mr. Cunningham. How’s your entailment gettin’ along?” (155, Lee) In this quote, Scout decides to talk to Mr. Cunningham even though they are in obvious danger and wants to ask about his son and says how good he is doing. If she didn’t show courage, this could have went a different direction. “I wanted you to see what real courage is,’ Atticus said. ‘Instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.’” (112, Lee) In this quote, Atticus is explaining what courage really is to Scout and Jem and what it means to have courage. Scout also shows courage when she first meets Boo Radley by talking to him and walking him home. If she didn’t know it was him, she would probably do nothing different but to welcome him into their

The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells the story of how two children, Jem and Scout Finch, grow up and start to understand the world in more adult ways. In the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, racism and prejudice spreads around. Atticus Finch, a lawyer, defends an African American man who is accused of raping a white woman. This is a journey of learning new morals and compassion through experience and practice. The kids learn important life lessons from their father, Atticus. He educates them on the true meaning of sympathy, understanding toward others, courage, and standing up for what is right through lessons and his examples.

he believed that people are only responsible for what they know. Atticus never judged anyone, because he wasn’t them, so he couldn’t see it from “their point of

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee, proves many elements of important life lessons that Jem and Scout learn throughout the novel. Firstly, Jem and Scout learn that they are people in this world, like Atticus, that are appointed to defend other people. Furthermore, Atticus teaches his children about seeing beyond the obvious with people when he makes Jem to read to Mrs. Dubose. Also, Jem learns that it is important to respect others and appreciate their perspectives of others. Finally, Atticus teaches his children about courage.

One character that shows a strong motif is Dolphus Raymond, who teaches Scout that what you see on the outside, may not be exactly what is truly there. He is portrayed as a drunk man who doesn’t care about anything and has a “ Co-Cola bottle full of whiskey in there” (Chapter 16) with him at all times. He is a man that Maycomb county takes as a joke. But when further reading, you find out that his coke bottle really is filled with just coke as stated by Scout in chapter nineteen, “You mean all you drink in that sack’s Coca-Cola? Just plain Coca-Cola?”. He lets others believe what they want to about him because he has a black wife, and that wasn’t acceptable to society during the nineteen-twenties. He would rather let them think that his actions are due to his alcoholism, and not his free mind because having a black woman as a wife was illegal. These motifs are littered throughout the entirety of the book. Atticus’s advice is shown in this situation because Scout is learning more and more about why people do things. She learned that people have reasons for the actions that they do and that she cannot judge someone based off of rumors, like she had done prior with Mr. Boo

Scout is always stating her opinion, and that opinion often gets her into trouble. The way she handles herself, and the actions of others, can result in a comical mental picture. For example, when she was telling her teacher, Miss Caroline, about the social standings, and open ended ways of Maycomb County. She said, “ ‘Miss Caroline, he’s a Cunningham.”... I thought I had made things sufficiently clear. It was clear enough to the rest of us: Water Cunningham was sitting there lying his head off. He didn’t

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee follows protagonist Scout Finch, who throughout the course of the story is forced to grow and mature as she learns more about both herself and her surroundings. Scout is a curious and courageous 6 year old, still learning about life through the happenings of her 1930’s hometown, Maycomb, Alabama. Over the course of the novel Harper Lee explores a number of themes to progress the plot and Scout’s development as a character, this causes the reader to gain an appreciation for these themes. Three of the most important lessons that Scout learns that help the reader gain this appreciation are; how innocence can change how someone’s surroundings are viewed, the dangers of prejudice a long with

You never know how brave someone actually is. “It was times like these when i thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars was the bravest man who ever lived” (lee,TKAM). This quote means that scout thought atticus was not brave at all but he realized he actually is. This quote relates to the theme because it shows that being brave can also make people think higher of you in the long run than popularity could. You can not put labels on someone or think they are not brave until you really think about what they go through.