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To Kill A Mockingbird Moral Development Essay

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Only people with psychic abilities can truly know how a person is going to act, or do they just have a keen eye? Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg has made a theory of moral development, describing the different stages in mortality and maturity which almost always determines how a person is going to act based on their morals. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, most of the story is about the two main characters, Scout and Jem, maturing because of certain events the children encounter. However, the children in the story aren’t the only one with developing mortalities. Kohlberg’s chart of mortality can be used to reveal a character and what their intentions are, which also can be used to help bring the plot along. You can see these stages in characters such as Bob Ewell, Aunt Alexandra, and Atticus Finch. Aunt Alexandra who according to the chart is on Level two Stage four: Maintaining Social Order. With this stage of mortality, the person only does what they believe is right, but no for what they believe in. This type of person also looks for approval from other people or a society and judges things based on other people’s doings. In To Kill a …show more content…

This is because of Atticus’s developed mortality, Stage six of Level three: Universal Principals. This type of character is independent and follows the “internalized principals of justice,” (Kohlberg) which Atticus is known to do. When Scout asks Atticus how he is so brave and wise, he simply states, “You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anyone says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change…it’s a good one, even if it does resist learning.”(76) This also reflects on when Atticus defends Tom Robinson, an African American, of rape. This is something that wasn’t accepted in Atticus’s society, yet he used this mantra and defended Tom in

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