To Kill A Mockingbird Lessons Learned Analysis

Another lesson I learned from To Kill a Mockingbird was to look at things from other people’s perspectives. When the Finches invited Walter Cunningham, a poor boy over for dinner. Because of being poor, and not living the same life, he didn’t know what to do with some of the food he was given. He dumped syrup on his vegetables. Scout never saw anything like that so she was confused and blurted rude statements at the table. She put Walter in a very awkward situation. Later the next day, Atticus told Scout “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-” (Lee 30) By this, Atticus told Scout that she will never fully know what the other person is going through, unless she was in their skin. At the dinner, Scout learned

Atticus being the moral instructor he is, lived up to what he preached. At the trial Mayella was scared, she obviously wasn’t raped by Tom. She had lots of fear towards her menacing father. He treated Mayella with lots of respect during the trial, even though he knew she was lying. Judge Taylor told Mayella “we’ve done business in this court for years and years, and Mr. Finch is always courteous to everybody. He’s not trying to mock you, he’s trying to be polite. That’s just his way.”(Lee 184) Atticus recognized the tough situation she was in, and respected her for it. If Mayella told the truth, she would have had no parents left, and her dad most likely would have beaten her again. Atticus could have completely torn apart Mayella but he didn't, he was polite while giving his arguments. Atticus did what he told Scout to do, to try to understand the other person’s point of view. This lesson was expressed through the book in a number of ways including other incidents such as the new teacher not letting Scout read at home and Atticus stepping up to be Tom’s lawyer. I think that this lesson is very important to learn for a more positive