I’ll tell you! Your fathers no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” When the kids had told Atticus, Atticus didn’t take it to heart because he knew Mrs Dubose was old. But the kids where really upset when they she had told them that and they thought she was a mean, cranky old lady. Social prejudice was expressed well in this book. It shows how a person’s wealth and background can affect their lives.
Scout originally did not have the skill to empathize, but thanks to Atticus, earns it. Had Scout not honed in on this skill, the end of the book, and the message would have been affected. Bob Ewell is a very unempathetic man and did not teach his children the skill. Bob Ewell is so unempathetic, that in fact in the novel, he was referred to as a low down skunk. His children particularly Mayella, have been affected by this lack of empathy, and have developed it as well.
The Faults in Human Nature In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee highlights the negative aspects of human nature through the eyes of a 7-year-old girl named Scout. Throughout the novel there are situations where the people of Maycomb fall under the influence of their neighbours, leading them to bring out a repugnant side of themselves. The townsfolk were filled with prejudice against the blacks in their community simply for the fact that they did not understand the way they live. This is usually caused by heredity because children are taught from a young age only one opinion, and presume it is right. Sadly, not knowing any better, they discriminate against them, not knowing what else to do.
When Miss Caroline asks scout to read aloud she discovers that Scout seems to be more literate than the rest of the students. Miss Caroline does not like the fact that Scout is ahead of the class and demands that Atticus stops teaching Scout to read. Miss Caroline testifies, “Your father does not know how to teach.” (Lee 17) Scout concludes that she had never had anyone teach her to read so well because Atticus had always come home late from work and was too tired to do anything but read in his chair. Through this event Scout learns about the harshness, and unfairness of some people that live in the world. Although Miss Caroline’s comment is unfair, scout realizes that many things are not fair but she can’t always dwell on the past which is the message that Harper Lee is communicating to us.
Sigmund Freud once said, “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” In Harper Lees’ novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” we can see a community of people who have this same fear, the fear of responsibility and change. Maycomb County is a divided community in which social hierarchy and prejudice thrives. The people of Maycomb are apprehensive about embracing ideas coming from outside the boundaries of their small community, ideas such as equality and integration between blacks and whites, gender roles being irrelevant in modern society and the breaking down of social hierarchy. Lee’s uses the backdrop of Maycomb County in order to portray to us the social injustices that were taking place during the time in which this book was published, an America in which segregation between the black and whites was rife. She uses characters such as Aunt Alexandra and the Ewells to personify the ignorance of prejudice, while the characters of Atticus and even Calpurnia show us that certain educated individuals in a community diluted with hatred and preconception hold a completely different view.
Dunstan Ramsay, the novel’s protagonist exhibits the issue of how a rough childhood can impede on relationships later on in life. Dunstan’s relationship with his mother leads him to develop three problems that arise in his dating life. The first problem is Dunstan’s trust issues; he can never fully trust a woman due to his betrayal of trust with his mother. The second problem is Dunstan’s negative depiction of sexual relations. Due to his mother’s stern moral beliefs, he does not have much interest in sexual relations and has negative views on it.
Mrs. Dubose, a sick, old lady may not be one whose courage shows on her exterior. This woman often criticized Jem and Scout and other children who passed the porch where she was confined. Mrs. Dubose suffered as a morphine-addict, whose pain-killers often led her to say nasty things to the children about anything she could think up, mostly about their father being a nigger-lover. She would also tell Scout that she shouldn’t be wearing overalls, and should dress like a lady. Her fits could be described as reaching out for attention, and fighting against the sickness that was slowly breaking down her system, however; it was also the medicine that put her in such pain and caused her to strike out at others.
That she needs their forgiveness before she can move on in life. The hypocrisy and bigotry shown in their attitude to the Mrunas, who they feel sorry for, because of ‘the poverty, the darkness, the immortality’. Yet this sympathy does not extend to the blacks in their town as Mrs Farrow points out ‘we can educate them till their blue in the face, we can try till we drop to make Christians out of them but no lady is safe in her bed these nights’. The irony of the ladies belief is shown in Mrs Merryweather calling the Northerners hypocrites explaining that “at least we don’t have the deceit to say yes, you are as good as us but stay away ... we live our way and they [the blacks] live theirs’ Yet they seem insistent to interfere with Tom’s family. What is really significant is that these ladies do not consider themselves to be racist or intolerant.
Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout learns, and applies, the life lessons her father had instilled in her. She understands what courage really is, alongside the definition of cowardice, and logic. “Because you’re children and you can understand it,” Mr. Dolphus Raymond explained to Scout. She realizes the necessity to see things though other’s points of views as well as treating everyone equally. She understands how truly wrong embarrassment and shaming of others is.
It’s so depressing and boring and it doesn’t really help anyone in life. It will always remind that person what they did wrong to be put in jail. There is a child twist of devastating lives that happen in similar situations like the ones that happen in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. In this book, envelops a story in which kids and teenagers overcome their insecurities by standing up for themselves and proving that they are not what they are being called or treated. Like the situation that when Sarah and Eric were writing that paper on Dale Thornton because he was bullying them and so Sarah and Eric started making fun of him.