People always get misjudged and want to say who or what a person is like before they even meet him or her. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, has many examples of misjudging people, and some of those people could be better, or worse, than what that person judged. Most of these characters in the book do not have the sense to meet someone before they judge them. Even if a character knows a character, they still judge, and they judge wrong most of the time. People just don’t have enough sense, or manners, to not judge.
Have you ever had to walk in someone else’s shoes to understand their point of view? All of us have at least tried at one point in our life before. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, she goes over this subject with multiple examples. Harper Lee uses fictional characters to teach life lessons in an early setting. Something else that may go along with the topic is don’t judge a book by its cover. Five examples of walking in other people's shoes are when Atticus asks Scout to walk in other’s shoes, Jem tries to walk in Bob Ewell’s shoes, Jem understands why Boo Radley wants to stay inside, Scout walks in Walter Cunningham’s shoes, and when the kids talk to Dolphus Raymond.
In the book To Kill A Mockingbird there are two kids named Scout and Jem. They have heard many stories and rumors about a boy named Boo Radley. The Radleys house is just a couple doors down from the Finches and the kids try to avoid it because “inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee 9) Boo has not been seen outside of his house in a very long time. Before Boo “locked” himself in his house he was friends with a group of troublemakers. They did not do much more than hang out, but one night they harassed a beadle and were arrested. After that there was no sight of Boo for a long time. When Boo was 33 years old, he stabbed his father in the leg with a scissors. He was then arrested and sent to jail. After he was released, he was back
“Atticus said no, it wasn’t that sort of thing, that there were other ways of making people into ghosts.” ( Chpt. 1, p11)
With pathos, an emotional argument, Atticus’ speech becomes powerful enough to have the audience feel a sense of guilt of Mayella and pity for Tom Robinson. Atticus’ beginning part of his speech tells the courthouse audience to understand the true purpose of this case, which eventually leads up to the morals of Tom and the courthouse. “The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is.” (271) Atticus is pointing out that Tom Robinson is not guilty, but someone else is. This hits the emotions of the audience because it is insinuating that Bob Ewell could be the one who abused Mayella. The outcome of this case can result in the death of Tom Robinson because the person who is guilty did not admit to the truth. To continue to strike the audience's feelings, Atticus adds the idea of pity to help emphasize the guilt that Tom faces. After giving several reasons why Tom Robinson isn’t at fault, Atticus throws in his pity for Tom Robinson in his speech. “I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt.” (271) The core idea of this part of Atticus’ speech was to both show his sentiment for Tom Robinson and to make Mayella feel ashamed of putting an innocent man in danger. By revealing the truth about Mayella, Atticus hopes that the audience can also take pity on Tom and to be ashamed of Mayella’s actions.
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the major themes resides in the fact that while people come and go, rumors last forever. Dill, one of the characters in this novel, has a sudden and profound realization which embodies this idea: "I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... It's because he wants to stay inside" (227). Boo Radley, a prevalent, although often unseen, character in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, was no exception. Throughout the novel, rumors and lies altered the public perception of Boo Radley. Very often, these rumors propagated, as they were distorted further
After childhood, people come to realise that the world is a cruel place. People misjudge others; thus, over time, people grow to accept the amount of brutality in the world. Parents often tell their children that first impressions count, mainly because others are quick to judge. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, first impressions of people are never correct, as we judge people after mere seconds, and we are often incorrect in our assumptions of people.
Boo Radley represents one of the “mockingbirds” in the book, and a mockingbird is someone that is pure and innocence in the world. He is a good person that is hurt by the evil of mankind. In a lot of ways, Boo Radley might have have wanted to stay shut up in his house after seeing some of the awful acts that the townspeople have committed. But after seeing the Finch kids being attacked by Bob Ewell he had no choice but to leave the comfort of his own home that he has been enclosed in for so long to come out and save them. All though it would have been easier for this man to stay in his house rather than leave and then be drug into court, he did what he knew would be right and rescued the
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout are siblings and their father, Atticus is a lawyer. They live in Maycomb which is a fairly small and close-knit community, everyone knows everyone. The Radley house is a major part of the book. The Radley house is very odd and to everyone else is scary and off limits. Throughout the story Jem and Scout, with their friend Dill, try to get Boo out of the house. There is also another part of the story which is slightly more disturbing. Maycomb town was mostly white but there were people of color there. The people of color lived at the end of the town together in one place. Harper Lee’s piece, To Kill a Mockingbird uses metaphors, personification, and allusion to convey the overall theme that teaches to not
Have you ever had any emotional or physical struggles in your life that sometimes made you feel as if though you were caged and unable to achieve your goal? To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a historical fiction novel told in the eyes of a young girl named Scout as her father, Atticus Finch , a lawyer in the 1950’s in Alabama, is burdened with the task of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, of harming a white girl, Mayella Ewell. “Caged Bird”
As Nelson Mandela wisely said “ I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” The story centers around the Finch family and the lessons that both Jem and Scout Finch learn as their father defends a black man accused of rape. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, we see the idea of true courage reflected in Jem Finch’s journey. With her words, Harper Lee paints a picture of what true courage as it is, and Jem Finch takes this lesson to heart as he sees examples of true courage in his life.
In addition to showing how the poor are trapped in the social codes and classes of society, the imprisonment throughout the book also shows how those who are perceived as “different” are also unable to escape from their roles. This group is represented by Arthur, or “Boo,” Radley. In the beginning of the book, Boo’s past is explained, including how he was locked in the courthouse basement for supposedly stabbing his father in the leg with scissors. Scout recalls the story, explaining that the sheriff “hadn’t the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so Boo was locked in the courthouse basement” (14). Scout also tells how after Boo had been locked up for a while, “Some of the town council told Mr. Radley that if he didn’t take Boo back, Boo would die of mold from the
Throughout the book Lee portrays the theme by using the character Boo Radley. In the first chapter Scout and her brother describe Boo as a malevolent and hideous person who eats animals raw. All throughout the majority of the book Scout never actually sees Boo Radley and because of this she places judgment and false accusations on him. Although at the very end of the novel Scout does meet Boo Radley in person, and she is standing on the porch of the Radley place when she starts to come to a realization. She says “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.”(374). From analyzing this quote Scout is finally seeing perspectives
“I admire men of character and I judge character not by how men deal with their superiors, but mostly how they deal with their subordinates. And that, to me, is where you find out what the character of a man is” (General. H. Norman Schwarzkopf). Seeing how men deal with others, who are supposedly lower ranked than them, shows their true character. Atticus is known around town as a great lawyer in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. One specific case was given to Atticus to defend a black man against a white girl. During this time period, African Americans were looked down upon based on their race. Atticus knew he would not win because many members on the jury were racist, but he dedicated a lot of time to the case anyway; therefore,
At the beginning of the book, Jem and scout saw Boo as the “malevolent phantom”(Lee,10) who lived inside the Radley house, the man who peeked through your windows late at night, dined on raw squirrels, and pierced his father’s leg with a pair of scissors. However, throughout the book the children start to realize that Boo is the furthest thing from a monster. Throughout the story the children are curious as to why Boo Radley never comes outside, a few times they try to get him to come outside. After a long conversation about Aunt Alexandra and her strange dislike for certain social classes, using their childish innocence, Jem and Scout start to see the strangeness and ambiguity in the social behavior of humankind. Jem claims that “[He is] beginning to understand why Boo Radley stayed shut up in the house all this time... it’s because he wants to stay inside”(Lee,304). After saving the children’s lives, Scout walks Boo home, she reaches the porch and realizes when she turns around that the whole town of Maycomb is visible from the porch. Scout realizes that “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.”(Lee,374)