Psychologists have debated for decades whether it's the nature or nurture of a person that affects the values people have when they are older. Nature refers to how genetics influence an individual's personality, while nurture refers to how their environment impacts their development. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a brilliant example showing that the environment in which someone is surrounded affects moral growth. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that was published in the 1960s that follows Scout Finch and other characters in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the setting, characters like Tom Robinson and Mr. Reynold, and a young child named Scout to illustrate how the environment that …show more content…
Reynolds that are considered outsiders are used to showing that previous experiences heavily affect the perception someone has specifically related to race. During the trial of Tom Robinson, Scout from the future says that "I did not understand the subtlety of Tom’s predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run—a sure sign of guilt”(198). This quote perfectly explains why Tom ran because he knew that if he did not run that night, he would have ended up in more trouble, even though he was the one that got sexually assaulted that night. He ran because he knew that from past experiences of Black people, he would suffer the most in this predicament. Another example is Dolophus Raymond, a White man in the story that gets bashed for preferring to hang around Black people rather than White people. The White townspeople do not appreciate him because he has biracial children. In the story, he speaks to Scout and Dill about racism in Maycomb. He says, "Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too”(205). Dolphus Raymond attempts to get Scout and Dill to understand why they are more likely to not be upset by these injustices in the world. This quote also proves that prejudiced opinions are taught by the experiences someone has since children are not born with malicious thoughts. For example, Scout and Dill did not understand why Tom Robinson was treated unfairly in the trial before Mr. Raymond explained the reasoning behind