Someone Exceptional
“Have you ever thought of it this way, Alexandra? Whether Maycomb knows it or not, we’re paying the highest tribute we can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It’s that simple.” -Miss Maudie. (Lee, Harper chapter 24) In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird one of the more interesting characters happens to be Miss Maudie Atkinson. Miss Maudie proves her extensive knowledge of Atticus, as well as her wisdom behind the peoples’ ways in this quote. Because people trust Atticus they know he will do the right thing. She proves time and again that she knows more about Maycomb county than anyone else. Friend to both Jem and Scout, Miss Maudie always proves that she possesses exceptional characteristics. On a daily basis Scout and Jem witness Miss Maudie’s abilities to know more about life and their father than they. She shows her kindness to Jem, Scout and Dill when she invites them to have a piece of cake. Jem and Scout always view Miss Maudie as being kind, wise, and loyal.
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During a women’s tea Miss Maudie compliments Scout on her looks, and asks where her usual attire (overalls) might be? Scout answers her and says that she has them on under her dress. When the other ladies laugh at Scout Miss Maudie simply holds her hand and sits quiet. (22) this validates just how kind Miss Maudie acts toward others. The next scenario where Miss Maudie acts out of kindness is when it snowed in Maycomb. While most people probably would not have let Scout and Jem take the snow from their yard Miss Maudie does not object. She asks what they want it for but does not in any part of that event act rudely and tell the children to keep out of her yard and not touch her snow. “She loved everything that grew in God’s earth, even the weeds.” (5) Over all Miss Maudie always attempts to act out of kindness to everything that
The Impact of a Lack of Adversity A lack of adversity can be problem larger than one could ever expect. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the detrimental effect of this lack of calamity is evident through the diminishing of Dill Harris, Alexandra Hancock, and Maudie Atkinson’s characters, especially regarding their value to the plot of the novel. These 3 characters had the potential to be great, strong leads, but, because of their lack of influential adversity, they are pushed to the margins of the novel’s plot and forgotten. When people are faced with a lack of impactful adversity, it causes their identities to become bleak and marginalized, even if their inner opinions and beliefs are powerful and cognate, because experiencing adversity
An important theme in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the relationships between all the characters and how they interact with and impact each other. For example, Miss Maudie Atkinson, one of the minor characters, always wants everyone to be treated fairly and equally. She is always caring and respects the people around her. Miss Maudie is a caregiver of the children, and is the one who helps Jem and Scout understand their father, Atticus. To begin with, Miss Maudie is a person who takes care of the children just like a mother does.
She teaches her to live life to the fullest and the ways of Maycomb. There are many interactions between Scout and Miss Maudie and all of them are positive. Scout is guided by Miss Maudie’s manner and looks up to her. When she is first introduced, Miss Maudie is described as, “a widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and men’s coveralls, but after her five o 'clock bath she would appear on the porch and reign over the street in magisterial beauty,”(Lee 56). Scout loves that Maudie is able to get her hands dirty during the day and become ladylike at night, and nobody judges her for it.
Scout said, “"Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year...." (108). This quote illustrates how Scout pushes against gender stereotypes, and this is the root of conflicts between her and Aunt Alexandra.
Miss. Maudie is referring to the fact that Scout is too young to understand what is occurring or that she is not old enough to understand the ordeal with Mr. Arthur. Scout is still a young girl, who is still trying to comprehend the world. Nevertheless, Scout is misjudged by Miss. Maudie based on her age.
Miss Maudie is responsible for affecting the actions and development of other characters. Miss Maudie teaches Jem and Scout how to be courageous and be bold when needing to defend friends and family. She also helps put things going on in perspective and helps them put their father into perspective. After Miss Maudie’s house burns down, Scout asks her if she is sadden at the fact that her house just burned down. Miss Maudie’s response was, “Why, I hated that old cow barn.
Jem grows up sheltered from the evil in the world. Once the trial comes around, however, he learns out imperfect the world is through the racism and prejudice, and he struggles to come to terms with this realization. After the trial he tells Miss Maudie, who is their neighbor, how it feels like “bein’ a caterpillar in a cocoon… Like somethin’ asleep wrapped up in a warm place. I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world least that’s what they seemed like” (Lee 288). Miss Maudie then tries to comfort Jem, but it still shows that Jem has been changed because his childhood view of Maycomb being perfect has been shattered.
He says” Mrs. dubose was a great lady … she said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody … she was the bravest person i ever know” Atticus took the chance to see the bigger picture. Which shows us that people aren't what they they seem. And once we took the chance to see what was underneath we realised how complex and courageous mrs. dubose actually was.
She understands that Atticus is a moral man and she wants Scout to be the same way. Because of Miss Maudie’s good nature she is a mentor to
but she still stands out when compared to other individuals in Maycomb because of her loving and compassionate character. For instance, the day after the trial, Jem and Scout are provided with Miss Maudie’s famous cake, “There was a big cake and two little ones on Miss Maudie’s kitchen table. There should have been three little ones. It was not like Miss Maudie to forget Dill, and we must have shown it. We understood when she cut from the big cake and gave the slice to Jem” (Lee 214).
Harper Lee’s purpose in describing Atticus the way he does in To Kill A Mockingbird is directly used to convey the theme in the story. As Atticus is described as being one who does not judge or think differently about people based on their race, gender, or religious beliefs it is used by the author to establish the theme of innocence. This comes as Atticus is just so kind to everyone around him, no matter their background, it even has Miss Maudie even talking about him as being just so consistent and holding no grudges and due to the author making Atticus be seen this way it shows off the theme of innocence as when Atticus will defend a black man in court and Scout gets picked on at school she does not understand why due to her innocence. She
Scout remembers and controls herself for the sake of Atticus’ request to not fight and retains herself. Later on, at the missionary tea circle party, all the women in Maycomb were at the Finch’s house. Miss Stephanie is making many jokes pointing at Scout and laughs. She is clearly getting irritated, but she refrains herself from saying anything. “Miss Maudie’s hand closed tightly on mine, and I said nothing.
Part (A) How does Lee use details in the passage to present miss Maudies view of Maycomb? Miss Maudie, Atkinson like people such as Atticus, is not afraid to say what she feels needs to be said, has a clear opinion of the town, and each of the people in it. This opinion is shown in the passage through many different language techniques. For example, in the phrase, "making a step, it's just a baby step, but it's a step," Lee uses repetition to tell us how Miss Maudie sees the town. This reiteration adds emphasis to the sentence, suggesting to the reader that she believes Maycomb is in need of many steps yet are only taking one - as the word is singular -but is okay with this, keeping the hope that Maycomb will make much more in the future.
Moral dilemma of characters in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird The way people handle moral dilemmas are often different. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee show various moral dilemmas and how different characters deal with it. Scout chose to be different in handling with her moral dilemma and change for the better while Mayella does not change and does wrong.
Miss maudie replies, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets”(Lee 61). This means that he is not someone who he is not. Also at the trial,