Exploring and understanding different characters decisions and beliefs truly helps reveal human morality. Aside from Scout, her father Atticus helps explore the good and bad of the Maycomb community. Atticus understands that, rather than being good or evil, everyone has good and bad qualities. The important thing is to appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by being comprehensive to others and trying to see life from their shoes. “You never really understood a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around it.” pg 30.
The story was told in first person perspective, with Scout speaking. I think that this mainly allowed us to follow Scout’s personal development; it allowed us to see Scout’s thoughts and emotions. For example, in the beginning of the book, Scout enjoyed terrorizing Boo Radley in an attempt to make him get out of his house. Later on, though, she realized that doing this was really just hurting an innocent person. On page 279, Scout finally understood Boo well, and she felt that she had developed so much that “there wasn’t much else left for her to learn, except possibly algebra.” This sort of progress in Scout’s character made the story much more interesting for me, and helped me to better recognize the messages that the author was trying to convey.
In the beginning of the novel, Scout has an uncontrollable desire to use her fists to solve all her problems. She got "some pleasure" when she was "rubbing [Walter Cunningham’s] nose in the dirt", simply over a small issue such as, making "[Her] start of on the wrong foot" in the classroom. Lee highlights these reoccurring fights to support Scout's childlike actions. Scout has a turning point midway through the novel when Atticus explains to Scout, not to "let 'em get your goat" and to keep "your head high" and "fists down". Lee uses this scene to show the turning point in which Scout starts to see that using her fists is not the only way to dispel the negative words being thrown towards her.
Scout, who has simple faith in the goodness of people, teaches us that we need to learn to accept that everyone has faults, but to always look for the virtues in them. Throughout her first days at school, Scout tries to act with the best intentions. She explains to Miss Caroline Fisher about the Cunninghams that, “you’re shamin’ him Miss Caroline. Walter hasn’t got a quarter at
Being pegged a tom-boy from the beginning, readers see this in her willingness to fight any boy that comes along or even any adult that questions her. Part of her courage though comes from being naive . She doesn't always know or understand the danger around her.In chapter 2, Scout represents the voice of reason from the children to their new teacher Miss Caroline. She speaks on their behalf, which took courage since she ultimately gets in trouble for most everything she says to Miss Caroline.In chapter 15, Scout bursts into a mob of men potentially about to hurt Atticus.In chapter 31, Scout meets Boo face-to-face. She treats this man like a child.
If children do not trust people then the will mistrust them thus leading to personality problems and classroom problems. The second stage of Erikson’s personal development is Autonomy is pride in one’s self and when a person has pride in their self they can accomplish anything. Also in stage two if the child does not have autonomy they may develop low self-esteem and have an urge to manipulate his or herself. Children with autonomy still have pride in themselves when they fail because they have done all that they can do. As a parent and teacher we have to make sure that we push children to their limit and make sure that we award them too.
Atticus uses this approach not only with his children, but with all of Maycomb, and yet, for all of his mature treatment of Jem and Scout, he patiently recognizes that they are children and that they will make childish mistakes and assumptions. Ironically, Atticus’s one insecurity seems to be in the child-rearing department, and he often defends his ideas about raising children to those more experienced and more traditional. Atticus Finch isn’t just an ordinary father. He teaches his children things no parent of that time period, or even our time period would even think of doing. Atticus tries to show his children how the world works from other people’s point of view.
The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee shows that honor is a prominent characteristic in a person. Atticus Finch is honorable because, raises his children with a strong set of values, he gets himself into something he knows is not going to turn out good but still tries his hardest, , and isn’t willing to cover anything up to take the easy way out. In the novel, Sir Atticus Finch is an honorable character and shows this by the way he raises his children. Atticus is Scout’s, the protagonist, and Jem’s father. Atticus tries to teach his children to vision yourself in the other person’s shoes before judging them.
Everyone would continue to repeat the mistakes made by everyone else and nothing would get accomplished. Stories are the gateway to a lot of possibilities. Children and adolescents are mentally shaped by how they are raised. Positive stories about heroes and heroic citizens teaches them that they should be brave, strong, and true without being overconfident or cocky. They learn about the mistakes other people have made and intelligently base decisiojns on their knowledge of stories and experiences they have heard about.
When you are a kid and you stand out, it can be encouraged or found upon. In this case the kids who bullied Jodee did not like her for standing out in a way that now, as adults they admire. Everyone grows up and “looking behind” at their life come to terms with what they did right and what they did wrong. “Then, suddenly, I understood that if sand “Over the Rainbow” to them, it would be a sign of forgiveness, and a reminder of the happy moments of friendship I had once shared with them before the rift between us” (page 255) Jodee could have taken this moment and walked away from it because of fear. But she instead was “seeing through” the faces of the people who once were a problem and see’s the honest and sincere people who stood in front of her that day.