To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee: Character Analysis

Jem and Scout, throughout “To Kill A Mockingbird,” learn to consider things from other people’s perspectives. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father, says “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” (Lee 39). They learn this through experiences with their neighbor Boo Radley as they mature beyond their years. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout make fun of Boo and assume that all of the rumors going around about him are true. However, later on in the story the children grow an admiration for Boo and learn to understand him. As they matured, Jem and Scout naturally learned many life lessons of appreciation, respect, and courage

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum...There was no hurry, for there was no where to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb.” (Lee 6) In Harper Lee’s classic story To Kill a Mockingbird,

1. (56-59) Scout admires Ms. Maudie because she’s honest and kind to them, even though they are just children. On page 59, Harper Lee writes, “She had never told on us, had never played cat-and-mouse with us, she was not at all interested in out private lives. She was our friend.”

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” Scout goes through many difficult experiences where she starts to understand judgement. She uses these experiences to develop her own opinions of the people she meets. Throughout the story, Scout evolves from a young naive girl to a girl with a better understanding of the world. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the external conflict between Scout and Miss Caroline, the symbol of Tom Robinson, and the motif of Boo Radley to reveal three coming-of-age scenes where Scout learns to try to understand others based on what one believes, not what others think.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, effectively conveys the idea that the significance of an individual's perspective will be seen when they are called to see situations from another's viewpoint in order to treat others in a just manner. Throughout the beginning of the novel, Harper Lee displays that the initial innocence of Scout Finch, followed by her ensuing empathy, is important for her understanding of individual perspective. During Scout’s first day of school, she was confronted with multiple issues. One of these was her encounter with Miss Caroline, in which she was exposed to the grim realities of Maycomb county, and the state of education in it. Scout was commanded to tell her father, Atticus, to immediately stop teaching

redujice is not something we are born with; it is something that we grow to learn from who and what surrounds us, things that help to form our identity. Prejudice is an integral theme in Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird. Prejudice is evident throughout the novel, not just in the appalling racism but also through, prejudice against different sexual orientations, gender constructs and feminism. Society had certain constructs that had to be met. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee breaks the bounds to overcome barriers, and challenge social constructs.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the greatest novel to Teach kids about diversity and the complex relationship with racism. It details the life of Jem and Scout, two siblings who grow up in a time of racial inequality and unrest. Jem Finch is what most would call a typical young boy; fascinated with sports, guns, and being tough. Scout Finch, on the other hand, is an Atypical tomgirl, tough enough to handle anything that comes her way. Yet, both of their childhoods are different from many of their friends and families that live in the town of Maycomb. Harper Lee creates these characters to portray the internal and external conflict that many young adults encounter when their morals clash with the cultural norm. We see that " you really don't understand a person till you climb into his skin and walk in it" (lee 30) Through Jem’s and Scout’s voice and characterization, Lee reveals how average day kids can change the course of people’s live.

​In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch, and her brother Jem, learn the importance of seeing things through other people's eyes. At the beginning of the story, the people living in Maycomb County, can be considered "mockingbirds" because they are innocent. Their father, Atticus, leads as a strong example while defending Tom Robinson, a black man convicted for rape. The residents of Maycomb (besides the Finches) fail to see situations through other people's eyes. For example, when the trial takes place, most people do not have empathy toward Tom Robinson, resulting in some of those "mockingbirds" becoming killed. Trying to see situations through other people's eyes can keep someone from hurting somebody who is innocent.

In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is about a girl named Scout telling the story of how her older brother Jem broke his arm. Scout went from innocent to experiencing hate, racism, and threat by other people. As she explains how it all happened, she tends to be in difficult situations with her brother Jem and experienced a few threats by her classmates and adults. Her father; Atticus, was a lawyer who was criticized by the entire white race because he defended a black man in court. Scout was a bright child who knew how to read at a young age and tend to understand all things she's been taught, but there were some things she did not fully understand until she had to experience them.

Scout Finch is a young girl that is interested in many situations throughout the town that are far too mature for her understanding. However, Calpurnia and Atticus still try to explain situations and circumstances on a childhood level for her to understand. Lee uses these examples to show Scout’s character, but to also show the racism and tragedy that occurs in her hometown. Dare in the periodical states, “Her innocence is a crucial aspect of the narration, highlighting the senseless racism and class divisions that rend Maycomb” (96). Scout’s innocent childhood point of view exemplifies Harper Lee’s idea of prejudice actions that occurs in Maycomb.

After Scout’s first day of school she doesn't understand what it means when people called her dad a “nigger lover” and say that he “defends niggers” (79, 88). Southern society was racist and while Scout understood racism, she didn’t recognize why what her dad did was wrong. Atticus Finch was called the town disgrace and a family disgrace, because he defends a black man. Later Atticus explains the social injustices and how society thinks “all Negroes lie [and] all Negro men are not to be trusted” but in reality this is true for all people causing Scout to recognize all the prejudice in Maycomb. Jem suggests that courts should get rid of juries, Atticus says it won't happen and if it did Jem ”[would] be an old man” by the time it did (244).

In this coming of age moment, Atticus plays a large role in helping Scout comprehend this, ““First of all,” he said, “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” (Lee 39). These are almost the same words used by Atticus after the trial and distinctly show that Bob Ewell had his side of the story whereas others only think single minded and it is important for others to be open minded because better decisions can be made and different opinions could be heard. Also shows how to act and respond in these types of situations by sitting in the other person’s shoes, contemplating, what would they be feeling right

In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee, the writer uses the experiences of Scout and Jem to show their coming of age, and how they learn to understand people for who they are, and not what rumors say they are. It portrays a strong message that you never really understand someone until you have put yourself in their shoes, or in their skin, as Atticus would say, “and walked around in them”. At the beginning of the story, Scout and Jem are childish, naive siblings, who wish to learn more about, as well as provoke the character Boo Radley, they believe the rumors that he is the town’s lunatic. As they grow up, they begin to learn that people are categorized and judged on the way they look and by the colour of their skin. Through their father, Atticus they learn to view people and society from a different perspective, learning from his wisdom.

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Mayella Ewell, a young woman as well as the daughter of Bob Ewell, lives a life of insolence and isolation in the town of Maycomb. As a Ewell, which they are familiarized as being vulgar, uneducated, and indigent, Mayella is disrespected by the people of Maycomb as well as by her father. During the court case, Atticus shows courtesy towards Mayella by addressing her as a miss and a ma’am, which is not surprising for his values of equality. Mistaking his manners with sarcasm, she replies with, “Won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mockin’ me” (pg.181). Harper Lee is demonstrating the amount of disregard Mayella faces in her life, so much that courtesy can’t be identified as just that. Mayella finds that Atticus is ridiculing her for what she doesn’t have, respect from others. With a reputation such as Mayella’s, people treat her like an outcast. Her lonely life can be a reason to explain why she always asked for Tom Robinson’s company, she wanted to experience friendship and perhaps love for the first time. Her loneliness was so clear to see, even Scout, who still has their childhood-innocent mind, can see through it. Scout compares Mr.Dolphus Raymond’s “mixed children” to Mayella because they both don’t know where to stand in their social class, “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her

Imagine you are a lawyer tasked with an impossible case, and everybody in your community is against you, but still there is a shred of hope you cling to. What might that be you ask? That to which you cling are your morals. In To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus Finch had been given the Tom Robinson case, where a black man was convicted of raping a white woman. As a single father of two children, he continues to reinforce his values throughout the trial and during his daunting task of raising his children. In To Kill A Mockingbird what Harper Lee suggests about the nature of morals is that you should try to stand up for what you believe in even if people oppose or reject your ideals. Even when faced with an insurmountable opposition you should stand up for your morals because in the end if your don't follow your beliefs you are just contributing to the problem. We should try to create a voice for what we believe in and impress that upon the next generation so they can continue to exercise their beliefs to make the world a better place.