Morgan Hunt
English9
June 4, 2008
Essay
There were many life lessons learned in the novel To Kill a Mocking Bird. As Scout and Jem grew up in the town of Maycomb, they learned a number of life lessons from Atticus, Calpurnia, and the society they are surrounded in. These lessons that they learned can be picked up by the reader, and used in everyday life. Issues involving understanding people and their decisions, racism, and gender differences are the major situations in which Scout and Jem, (and the reader as well) learn life lessons that will help them become better people. These problems that come up in the story, are significant to people in the way that they grow up and function in a society.
By the second and third chapter of the book, Scout learns a lesson about understanding people and respecting the fact they come from a different angle in the situation. When she is at school, she has a new teacher (one that was not from Maycomb)-Miss Caroline. When it was time for lunch, Miss Caroline noticed that Walter Cunningham didn’t have his lunch or money to get lunch she offered him money with the fact that he would pay her back tomorrow. (However, everyone that had lived in Maycomb knew that the Cunningham’s were farm-poor people and they never took things from people that they couldn’t repay.) Consdering Miss Caroline was new, she was not aware that these were the ways of the Cunningham’s. Scout decided that perhaps Miss Caroline didn’t know that he was a Cunningham, so Scout stood up in class, and informed her. Miss Caroline had no idea of what it was supposed to mean, so Scout’s comment only angered Miss Caroline. Atticus’s lesson to Scout was 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”(Harper Lee p. 30 ) Scout tried to understand then that she couldn’t expect Miss Caroline to learn everything about the town on her first day teaching.
However, there was another incident in which Scout was needed to consider things from another person’s point of view. Once Atticus found out about Jem, Dill and Scout playing ‘Boo Radley’ as a game and attempting to get a letter from a fishing pole to Mr.Radley, Atticus had to put a stop to it. Atticus tried to explain to his children that they need to leave him alone; if Mr.Radley wanted to come out he would. He asked them to think about how they would feels if Atticus came into their rooms at night, without knocking. Atticus tried to say that that was the same thing they were doing to Mr.Radley; an invasion of privacy and that if they really wanted him to come out that they should do it in a civilized manor; use the front door instead of a side window. At the end of the book, after living her whole childhood thinking that Boo Radley would be a scary person, she has an experience standing on his front porch. It was at that moment that Scout saw things from Boo’s point of view; she felts as if she was in his shoes for a second.
A life lesson that most people have to deal with one time or another in their life, is the issue of racism. All around us we are surrounded by people of a different race- and in America we are taught that all races are equal to one another. However, during the time period in which the book was written, there was a large noticeable social difference between Whites and Blacks. Calpurnia was their cook, and served as another adult in the house raising the children. Scout and Jem appreciated her; however she was black. It wasn’t so much the children that had issues with black people- just the parents that influenced their children. In the novel, Scout learned that there are good and bad people; no difference if they are black or white. Scout even deals with people calling her father a “nigger-lover”; which at first she does not quite understand. With the trial of Tom Robinson, her father later explains to her that some white people are just “trash”. Atticus says “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life…whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family, that white man is trash”. (Harper Lee p.220) In the situation of Tom Robinson’s trial it is obvious to see that Mr.Ewell is one of those white folks that is taking advantage of Tom Robinson. We all know that Tom Robinson didn’t harm Mayella Ewell, but because he was black he was still considered guilty.
Another situation that Scout learned for was her acting like a girl. Scout always preferred wearing overalls and playing outside with the boys. As she was growing up people were always nagging Scout, (mostly Aunt Alexandra) that she should start acting like a girl and more lady like. It wasn’t until Aunt Alexandra’s neighborhood meeting that Scout began to realize what being a lady really entailed. During the neighborhood meeting where that lady’s were served refreshments and held discussions, Atticus brought Calpurnia, Scout, and Aunt Alexandra away from the guests to inform them that Tom Robinson had been shot and died. Although this was tradgic news, they all went in acting as if everything was okay. Scout realized that if Aunt Alexandra could go on, smiling and acting as if she was so care-free, so could Scout.
