Essay On Equal Rights In To Kill A Mockingbird

Do you believe in equal rights? In To Kill A Mockingbird, the blacks are treated very poorly and do not have fair opportunities. The novel is told from the point of view of Scout Finch, but she is not your typically little, white southern girl. She believes in equal rights, and she doesn't really care what other people think about her or her family. She lives Maycomb, Alabama, a very poor town, with her family and Dill, her best friend. She lives with her dad, Atticus, and her brother, Jem. There is conflict throughout the town when a black man, Tom Robinson, supposedly raped a white woman, Mayella Ewell. It goes to trial and if Tom loses, he will be faced with the death penalty. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores the

Throughout the trial, Atticus Finch shows respect and compassion to Mayella when he calls her, “Miss Mayella and ma’am” (Lee 249). Atticus shows respect and compassion to Mayella throughout her testimony and to everyone that came up to the stand. Eventually, Mayella got sick and tired of Atticus showing compassion to her, so she flips out and leaves the courtroom because she had never been treated with compassion before. Mayella has always been treated like crap and never really been treated right before because she always has to do chores and take care of the kids because her mom died. Another example of Atticus showing compassion to others in Maycomb, is when Atticus is explaining to Scout to consider other people's point of views. Atticus says “...if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Lee 39). Scout and Atticus were talking about school and how she doesn’t want to go to school because of all the drama. Atticus tells her to show compassion to others and to feel what others feel before you start to judge. Scout does what Atticus tells her and she ends up becoming a better person. Atticus has shown compassion to everyone and has even taught his kids to show compassion to