C. S. Lewis once said “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”. Hardships help to define people into who they will eventually be. Seeing others hardship forces people into considering what would happen if they were to face these hardships. Sometimes it takes people some time to consider how they would face these hardships because in order to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and consider their pain, they must first consider themselves equal. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee develops the idea that individuals witnessing hardship learn and grow emotionally from it by gaining humility, empathy, and respect for others pain.
Initially, Scout Finch is introduced as a young, somewhat self-centered five-year-old. She is uninterested in adult problems and happy to continue her carefree young life as most five-year-olds would. Scout learns to thrive without a maternal influence that most children receive. The discovery of Dill in the collard patch marks the beginning of a long friendship-and an early engagement. Dill's persistent attempts to catch a glimpse of Boo Radley draws Scout into the mix. Scout attempts to solve a problem by first taking action, an approach that often gets her into trouble. As an example, Scout recognizes that the Cunningham’s are poor when she defends Walter Cunningham Jr for not having a lunch at school, but she doesn’t understand his poverty till later in the book. When Scout first truly witnesses someone else’s hardship, in the form of the Cunningham’s poverty, she is confused. While eating dinner at Scouts house as a guest, Walter douses his food in syrup. Perplexed and confused, Scout calls him out on it. Not realizing that to Walter, syrup is a treat, Scout demonstrates her innocence and ignorance to the poverty around her.
However, after witnessing others hardships in the forms of poverty, addiction and discrimination, she grows and develops to be a strong willed, humble and empathic child. Scout learns from her father Atticus how to show respect to everyone regardless of color because everyone deserves equality in life. The trail of Tom Robinson, an African-American man, has been accused of raping a white woman, and race tensions are coming to a
Author uses Atticus teach these lessons through his wise words. Atticus teaches these lessons to not only the audience, but Jem and Scout too. Some of the main things he teaches his kids about are understanding people, using the mind instead of the body, the cruel reality of stereotypes, and true
Living in the sleepy town of Macomb, Alabama, Scout Finch and her brother Jem Finch go on different adventures with their foreign comrade Dill. In doing so, they discover Arthur Radley also known as Boo an old man who has never ventured out past his doorstep. There father, Atticus, a peaceful and quiet lawyer and their black maid Calpurnia teach them import lesson about racial equality. During the fall Dill returns home and Scout goes to school. She detests it, for she is very smart and too advanced for the class. During school Jem and scout find a hole in a tree filled with gum. They take the gum, but little do they know that Arthur Radley had placed it there for them to enjoy. Later in that year they spy on boo only to discover that he wanted to be left alone.
While Atticus is the true hero scout is also a hero in the book too. Scout is a girl that is about to turn 6 when the book begins and 8 when it ends Through Harper lee’s display of scout we see her understanding of life. Through the book, Scout successfully Finds herself in a difficult situation at the jail. A Large crowd of Maycomb white men storms into jail looking for Tom Robinson. Scout, Jem, and Dill are told to stay home by Atticus while he Visits Tom at the jail. Scout Jem and Dill arrive at the Jail soon after they see the crowd and cease the argument on killing Tom. The mob stop fighting and Mr. Cunningham notices what he has done wrong. Scout shows courage in the book through standing up for what she believes is the right thing to do. Throughout the book, harper lee displays scout begin curious and brave. Scout Jem and Dill go to Boo Radley's house, a man in his thirties that has not been seen since he did some bad things. Scout Jem and Dill show courage and go over to their house for the summer they wanted to see what Boo Radley looks like. The kids play games in their yard, Like who can touch the door and run back. Scout shows courage in the book to see if Boo Radley wanted to play games with them or not and also see what he looks like. In the book, there is a lot of Put yourself in other people’s shoes First. Scout
Mockingbirds will only sing their hearts, not cause any damage or give their lives to pleasing others. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird great examples are shown of different types of mockingbirds. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Arthur (Boo) Radley are great examples of representing a mockingbird.
Growing up is a difficult task, especially when the town around you doesn’t offer to help you understand what’s going on around you. Using many examples of the loss of childhood innocence, Harper Lee shows us that a corrupted society leads to growing up faster and one’s childhood is stripped away. Through Jem, the eldest of the Finch children, and Scout, the youngest, the readers see how a trial in 1930 Alabama takes a toll of young minds. In Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she implies that growing up leads to loss of innocence, especially in troubling times.
When real life problems are seen from the perspective of a child, they often change the child in dramatic ways. Such is the case in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a story narrated by a young girl living in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The young girl, Scout, lives with her brother and father, a lawyer who is defending a black man accused of raping a woman from town. In the beginning of the story Scout spends her time playing silly games around the house and yard with her brother Jem and neighbor Dill. As she becomes more aware of the social bias and racial tensions that are building in the small town, Scout and her world begin to change. Although Scout may not fully understand the ins and outs of the real world, she
Unexpected and uncontrollable events have a way of creeping into people’s lives and causing a wave of emotions that will affect the way a person lives the rest of their life. In her award-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee address issues by looking at them through the eyes of a child. The story follows six-year-old Scout Finch as she grows up in Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression. Harper Lee writes for several events throughout the book test Scouts morals in order to call attention to how interactions shape a person. By learning from others, Scout grows to understand the intricacies of the human relationship.
To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee, 1960), an insightful and gripping novel composed by Harper Lee in 1960. Originating in Alabama South America, based during The Great Depression. This didactic novel highlights the controversy of racism, dominant discourses and social inequality through the storyline of young ‘Scout’ who has grown up with these prominent social issues in her everyday life. Scout finds herself having to find a new perspective as her father takes on the risky case of defending a wrongly accused African American man of rape.
After starting school, Scout comes upon his first lesson from Atticus. When Walter Cunningham refuses to take a quarter from Miss Caroline to pay for his lunch, Scout begins to explain to her teacher that “The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t pay back.” Scout had overheard her father talking to one of his clients, Mr. Cunningham, about how he would pay Atticus for his work on his entailment. Atticus explains to Mr. Cunningham that the money was the least of his worries. Scout later learns that the Cunninghams pay in what they have, for example, stovewood or turnip greens. When Atticus says “ If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. 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.” Scout learns that some people live differently than her, and that it is important to always accept that some people are different. When she explains the situation to her teacher, she gets in trouble, in turn making her not want to go to school anymore.
From naivety to being quick-tempered, Scout progresses from childlike innocence to being a hotheaded little girl whose physical violence got the best of her when tension between civilians of Maycomb started to rise as Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, decided to be a lawyer in defense of a black man who has been accused of raping a white female. This important trial became the talk of the town, and even spilled over to the kids. So at school, Scout was was frequently approached and teased by other children because her father was defending someone who was black. At first, Scout used to get into fights with the other children in order to protect her family and stand up for her father. But as this fighting became more and more common, Scout told Atticus about these problems at school, and he advised her to rise above the fighting and stop the arguing with the other kids. And the next time Scout was teased she “remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away... It was the first time I [she] ever walked away from a fight" (102). Scout’s maturity is beginning to grow since old Scout would have taken any opportunity to fight and argue in order to protect her family’s reputation, but
When her first day of school ends, Scout talks to her father about quitting it. She argues with Atticus, saying “-listen Atticus, I don’t have to go to school!” (Lee 33). She feels that she does not need it as she already knows how to read and write. But her father advises her that staying in school would be beneficial for her. She ends up listening to Atticus and stays in school. This proves the Scout takes her father's advice and ends up staying in school . After a couple of school days went by, Scout runs into another dilemma. A student by the name of Cecil Jacobs starts making fun of Scout because her dad is presently defending a black person in court rather than defending the white person. At this time white people were superior compared to blacks. When Scout tells her father she wants to fight him, he tells her to not fight anyone and ignore children who make fun of her because of him. She listens to her father and turns her back on people who did make fun of her for it. The author shows Scout’s maturity as she gains enough courage to tell her father about the situation instead of taking matters into her own hands. Also, she feels that her father would be disappointed if she did not listen to him. This shows us that she is developing concern for the negative actions she is tempted to do. As the novel progresses, Atticus teaches Scout about people's perspectives. He tells
Scout experiences her first contact with evil when her father, Atticus Finch, becomes the lawyer for Tom Robinson, and she has to bear the impact of racial prejudice from teachers, 'friends', relatives and other citizens of Maycomb, "I guess it's not your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family-"(83). Because of this exposure to abdominal prejudice, Scout's development is ruled by the question of how she will proceed with her life, with her conscience and state of mind intact or with it being spoiled and destroyed like the characters Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Even though Scout remains a child throughout the entire book, her perspective on life in general develops from that of a naive and innocent child into a near-adult. This development is displayed when Scout seems to understand a concept that even some adults don't," 'Yes sir, I understand," I reassured him. "Mr. Tate was right." ..."Well, it'd sort of be like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?"(276). This is partly due to Atticus' wisdom, as through him, Scout learns that even though mankind will always have the ability to perform much evil, it also has the same capacity to do and be the complete opposite. "Atticus, he was real
There has always been an argument if people are naturally good, or naturally evil? The answer lies somewhere in the middle. The characters in “A Time to Kill” by John Grisham and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee show this by taking action into their own hands. In the book “A Time to Kill,” Carl Lee Hailey, the father of Tonya Hailey; sought vengeance on Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard for raping his daughter. Throughout the book, it shows the experiences Carl Lee has while being on trial against the state of Mississippi. He was ultimately successful in winning the case. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Arthur "Boo" Radley is a mysterious man who lives across the street from the Finch family. Jean "Scout" Finch, her brother Jem,
In both the text “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee and the film “A Time to Kill” directed by Joel Schumacher, similar ideas are presented using language devices and stylistic features in differing ways to appeal to their target audience. Each have very similar storylines in which a white lawyer defends a an African-American in a prejudiced court case. Racism is a key idea presented strongly in each due to the eras they are set in. The era and country set in each story provide a strong base for the prominent issue. With the unpleasant happenings in each text and through the racist acts the idea of compassion shines through. As well as compassion being a significant idea, forgiveness is also presented through the racists acts.
The story, in the eyes of two innocent children Scout and her brother Jem, of the discrimination and hypocrisy throughout the town. Maycomb County, Alabama, faces an African American’s injustice while the children learn valuable lessons from their father, Atticus and their housemaid Calpurnia, during the Great Depression. All the while, we are learning from it. To Kill a Mockingbird teaches us the lessons of morale, justice and equality.