Essay On Scout Finch Lessons In To Kill A Mockingbird

Early in the book when Scout starts school she finds she does not like her teacher because her teacher does not believe Scout should be reading yet. Scout who has known how to read for a few years now finds this idea silly and decides to ask Atticus if she can stop going to school. Atticus tells her that if she can learn a little trick it will help her a lot in life he states “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). This helps scout realize that even though she does not like her teacher’s thinking she can see the logic behind it if she looks at it from her point of view.

Right in the beginning, we can clearly characterize our eyes of the novel, Scout. After her first day of school, she gets in a bit of a dispute with her teacher Miss Caroline and immediately goes to Atticus for sympathy. “You can 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.” (39) Along with giving his daughter sympathy and making a bet that they can still read together at night, Atticus teaches her a valuable lesson that is continued throughout the book.

This particular lesson concerns the larger theme of the novel, prejudice and racism, by showing how the children are being taught to treat others equitably. If the younger generation, Jem and Scout are instructed in the fair treatment of all, the cycle of bias could be broken. This instance is particularly impactful coming from Calpurnia due to her being on the end of such racism. Calpurnia understands how hurtful negative preconceptions of people can be and by teaching the children in ways of equality it shows how she is not prejudiced herself, knowing that the children are not bad because of some of their prejudices and judgment of different people but are brought up in the way. By teaching them equality she is showing them how to be a good

Caroline 's encounter with Walter Cunningham, and Scout’s conversation with Mr. Dolphus Raymond. Harper Lee uses these three situations in her novel to make blatantly clear, a lesson on the faults of adult community; lying to each other in order to feign comfort within one another. An example of this, is the fault Scout recognized in Calpurnia when she lies about her speech potential by conforming to the way of speaking common in the Negro church. During the outburst from Lula due to Calpurnia arriving at the Negro church with Jem and Scout, Scout says this about Calpurnia’s reaction, “ {...} she asked in tones I had never heard her use.

“Nobody actually wants to grow up. We just want the freedom to use our youths. ”-Unknown. This quote represents Scouts character. How she wants to understand the world yet she doesn’t want to grow up.

“‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…”’(Atticus 33). Atticus expresses this to Scout because he knows that everyone is equal, and every story has multiple sides and point of views. This is what makes Scout realize that everyone has a point of view on things, though it is most important to learn about the source first before accusing. Rumors and perspectives are what can ruin a life, this knowledge allows Scout to look at everything from multiple aspects rather than one. Throughout the entire story, there are different viewpoints on everything from everyone in this story, and Scout learns the biggest lesson of understanding another's story from their point of view rather than her

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”. This is one of the many lessons Jean Louise Finch or had to learn as she matured throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the novel our main character Scout starts out as a very innocent yet intelligent young girl who slowly matures and understands the world around her due to not only what she is taught by her father Atticus Finch but also her own life experiences. One of the lessons she is taught by Atticus is that you can never judge or understand someone until you have experienced life from their point of view. This is a lesson that Scout fails to understand until near the very end of the book.

Over the years, in To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout has grown as an individual. Most of these developments caused her to grow mature. Most of her growth comes from Atticus’ words and promises. Words that were given by Atticus was able to teach Scout how to be perceptive to people and a promise between Scout and him was able to strengthen her self control. After the fire in Miss Maudie’s house, the blanket given to her by Boo Radley was able to open her eyes and create an understanding that he’s a normal person.

The quote proves the theme of children learning through others with literary devices and figurative language. Mrs. Caroline catches Scout writing a letter to Dill and ultimately Scout flashbacks to Calpurnia teaching her, “She would set me a writing task by scrawling the alphabet firmly across the top of the tablet, then copying out a chapter of the Bible beneath. If I produced her penmanship satisfactorily, she rewarded me…” (Lee, 24) Words in this quote are academically related, such as “firmly” and “penmanship”. Scout uses these words to imply that even at home she was still learning from Calpurnia.

Scout was arguing with Cecil Jacobs one day in the schoolyard over Atticus defending Tom Robinson in court. Scout declares, “...it was the first time I ever walked away from a fight.” (Lee. 102) As Scout stated, that was the first time backing down from a fight in her whole life, all because she kept in mind Atticus’ advice. That advice made Scout a much better person in the long run and since it is in the book so often it is a quite important quote to Scout and the person she becomes. Learning how not to be quick to judge others is a powerful lesson learned by Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, the quote helped greatly for Scout to develop and change for the better.

“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 from his point of view—” (Lee, 30). After Atticus tells her this, she considers Miss Caroline’s point of view. She realizes that it was an honest mistake and that she is incapable of learning Maycomb’s ways in a day. Scout applies the skill Atticus

Throughout the novel, Scout and Jem learn more and more valuable life lessons through real life scenarios than they ever would have ever learned at school. They learn morals such as courage, selflessness, and equality through their own lives. Therefore, real life experiences give more valuable lessons than education to Scout and Jem.

During lunchtime at the Finch house, Scout rudely points out Walter’s outlandish etiquette, which motivates Calpurnia to quietly admonish Scout, explaining that, ”anybody [who] sets foot in [her] house is [her company]” (Lee, 27). What Calpurnia reveals to Scout is to be respectful of other people, even her guests. With this in mind, Calpurnia is able to divert Scout from being impolite to people in the future, which essentially forces Scout to perceive others as different from herself. To finalize, Calpurnia teaches Scout how to respect other people because of how different their cultures are.

What she learns is slowly taught to her by the people around her and the experiences she has. The first life lesson that Scout encounters is not to judge someone until one really knows them. In this novel the first person that starts to teach Scout a lesson is Atticus,

In the novel, Harper Lee uses several literary tools to show the theme of not prematurely judging someone. This thought is first introduced to Scout Finch by her father Atticus, when she is struggling to see her teacher’s perspective. He tells her, “‘First of all, 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 22).