“If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and around in it.” This is a quote by Atticus Finch from the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”. This quote shows real wisdom in Atticus and how he spreads that knowledge to his family. Atticus has many moments throughout the book that he expresses wise thoughts just like this. He shares them with his children and others around him at the exact right moment. In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird“, wisdom is one of the biggest themes because it teaches many great life lessons, shows how much different a person is if they are wise, and it is what ultimately helps Scout mature and understand the world around here. Many life lessons …show more content…
Bob Ewell isn't known around town for being the wisest man. In fact, he's known for almost the exact opposite. As Scout tells us, “Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day's work in his recollection.” This quote tells a lot about the Ewells. They’re lazy, unmotivated, and showed to be very rude in some parts of the book. The Ewell family never went to school, besides the first day. One of Bob’s sons, Burris was in Scout’s first grade class, but only came the first day and caused quite a scene. Burris got upset with the teacher and called her all sorts of rude names. He didn’t feel bad about it at all afterwards, as Scout tells us, “He waited until he was sure she was crying, then he shuffled out of the building.” This family doesn’t have a lot of wisdom in them, they don’t have the best life, but none of them will work so it really is their fault for their situation. Going from a man like Bob Ewell and a man like Atticus Finch, you can clearly see one main difference,
The Ewell’s were the kind of people in the county that should never be trusted, but once they were put in a situation regarding a black man, suddenly they were the truthful ones. Furthermore, during a conversation with Calpurnia on page 164, Scout thought about how believable the Ewells were, “‘It’s because of what folks say Tom’s done,” she said… ‘Old Mr. Bob Ewell accused him of rapin’ his girl an’ had him arrested an’ put in jail…’ ‘Why, Atticus said they were absolute trash - I never heard Atticus talk about folks the way he talked about the Ewells…’” The Ewell family had the reputation of being terrible people, and even Atticus said that. However, a majority of people in town still thought Bob Ewell to be speaking the truth because he was accusing an African American, and they are always below everyone
One lesson Atticus teaches Scout is, “‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view.’” (Lee 39) This quote explains how one must step into another’s shoes before judging them. Atticus helps Scout understand the reason for empathy. Connecting to the theme, once Scout begins to understand her father’s lesson, she becomes more empathetic and tries to become similar to her father.
In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee talks about discrimination based on gender role, age, and skin color. The characters in this book all have different personalities that influences others. Maycomb, Alabama in 1930’s is where everything happened with slavery and struggling with being poor. The characters Scout, Jem, and Dill had a strong bond and had lots of courage. Shows that justice means other things to other people.
In the book To Kill A Mockingbird and Of Mice And Men, almost most of the characters lie about something. People lie even if they’re innocent because they want to protect themselves from being an outcast. Calpurnia lies about being able to read, Dolphus Raymond lies about being an alcoholic, and even worse, Mayella lies about Tom Robinson raping her. All of these false accusations lead to consequences and the only reason these people did this is because they’re too worried about their social standing in their community and they don’t want to be looked at any differently than anybody else.
With their unbeknownst number of kids the Ewell brood, specifically Bob Ewell becomes jealous and outright angry that Atticus would oppose him in the court of law by representing Tom Robinson. Although against the odds Atticus feels empathetic towards the Ewells not necessarily Bob but instead for Mayella, he understands what she is being put through, Suffering through domestic abuse, and in court Atticus even goes so far as to state that he feels sorry for Mayella. To add to this he implies that the man truly guilty of beating Mayella is in the courtroom (Bob Ewell). This did nothing to calm Bob Ewell’s seething manner instead it only escalated it, and in an attempt to get back at atticus he tries to kill his children whom are saved by an unseen and unknown force which killed Mr. Ewell. The precursor towards this however was when Bob Ewell spit on Atticus but even through this Atticus was rational, he thought about it.
Bob Ewell is an unemployed drunk who is the father of Mayella Ewell and her younger siblings. Mayella’s family is so poor that her and her siblings only go to school on the first day just to mark their appearance, because they need to spend their time hunting for food. Since they don’t attend school they barely get an education. When Bob Ewell has the opportunity to spend money on food or clothes he takes advantage of it and spends it on alcohol. In the town of Maycomb they only made it this far because of their skin color.
People have in mind that courage is about being able to save other peoples’ lives and risking your own, or to climb Mount Everest, or to jump from the top of a high building. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, real courage is demonstrated in a different and encouraging way. Real courage is shown as fighting for what is believed in and what is most important, regardless of whether you win or lose. Atticus and Scout are two characters who define courage perfectly. The reasons why Atticus shows courage is that he argued the best he could to defend the innocent man from going to jail since he knew that no one else would.
Not only did Bob Ewell committed a sinful act against his family, he blamed his actions on someone else. Obviously, his actions display how he committed evil actions. In addition, he fought and harassed people who he opposed of. This includes Tom’s lawyer and his family, his own family, and townspeople. He was rated sixth on the evil scale because of the unjust actions that he caused, and committed.
They are also responsible for not protecting Tom Robinson from being wrongly accused of something he did not do. Bob Ewell is the main antagonist in the novel, he is an abusive racist and drunk. The Ewells are the trashiest people in the town of Maycomb county but not because of where they live. In the novel, it states, “Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 33) They are the source of all the town’s problems, especially Bob Ewell. The Ewells are a family that has never been able to gain respect from the rest of Maycomb.
“Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 33) The reason he told Scout this is because he knew it for a fact, Atticus only said things that he witnessed or knew, and how the Ewells treated people led him to believe that they are bad people. Atticus also said that they live like animals” (Lee 33) Most of the time when people live in a bad place or have been raised negatively they will act differently. People pick up on behaviors, especially from their parents or guardians, the way they are raised really says a lot about the person that they will most likely become. Another thing he told Scout was, “they lived by their own rules because they didn’t care about how it would affect others” (Lee 34).
A Climb into the Skin of Atticus The concept of tolerance is explored in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus represents this theme, he always looks for ways to teach others proper morals and values. Atticus once said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). This quote summarizes Atticus’ outlook towards people.
Atticus Finch shows many ways of wisdom throughout the novel. He tells Scout to respect Boo Radley and to understand the fact that their might be reason why Boo always stays at home. Atticus states in the novel, “You never truly understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around it” (Lee, 39). This evidence supports why Atticus is a wise individual who always tries to see things from other people’s point of view.
Scout learned to treat everybody equally. Atticus led a great example for Scout by taking Tom Robinsons case; He tried to win just as hard as he would have for a white man. Anytime Scout would ask questions or make comments about other people, Atticus would remind her not to judge others. For example, when Scout asks Atticus if he's a “nigger lover” he responds "I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody....
In the book it states, “They come first day every year and and then leaves. (Lee 36). They are not like the other kids and get shunned for not going to school from the town. The second reason the Ewell’s could be described as a disgrace is the town saw them as nothing. Maycomb shunned the family and did not care about them.
Bob does not value education, we can see this because Bob does not send his daughter to school. Unlike Atticus Bob does not follow the law. Atticus and Bob Ewell don’t just have influence over their children, they also have an influence over the whole town. While Atticus has a positive effect on the town Bob has a negative effect on the town. Atticus influences the town to take in African Americans and make their town bigger, instead of being racists.