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Examples Of 'Blind Spots In To Kill A Mockingbird'

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Have you ever wondered, do I have blind spots? Do others have blind spots? What is a blind spot? A blind spot is when a person doesn't realize that they are missing something on a topic and sometimes end up hurting others. Everyone has blind spots. Sometimes you might think you're right about a topic, but you're not always going to be right.
Atticus thought that he was right when he said that Jem killed Bob Ewell. A major blind spot I see in Atticus is that he thinks that Jem killed Bob Ewell, but Boo Radley actually killed him. Atticus never caught onto the fact that his son Jem did not kill Bob. Atticus could have also been doing the same thing that Mr. Heck Tate was trying to do. Mr. Heck Tate was trying to protect Boo, maybe this is not one of Atticus's blind spots. Atticus could have been trying to protect Boo the same way that Mr. Heck Tate was. This shows readers that people don't know everything. You may think that one person is really smart, but no one can fully know everything. Atticus's blind spot shows the reader that he is not the smartest man, but he is still a smart man. It affects the book because Scout sees, a different side …show more content…

Gilmer, the prosecutor in the trial, also had a blind spot. He only saw Mayella's side of the story because of his racial hatred. Throughout the trial, he calls Tom the "n-word" many times. “Like I says before, it weren’t safe for any n***** to be in a-fix like that.”(265) Because of this, he had a blind spot about what happened to Mayella. He didn't see that Tom could not have done the things he was accused of. He only had one and a half arms so it would have been harder for him to hurt Mayella. Mr. Gilmer's blind spot affects Tom and all of his friends and family. If Mr. Gilmer saw that Tom did nothing wrong, then he would not have been sent to jail where he died. Mr. Gilmer’s blind spot affects the book, because it affects some of the characters like Atticus and his “team” who were on Tom Robinson's side of the

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198 Words | 1 Pages

Even though Heck Tate is a sheriff, he doesn’t follow the law. Heck Tate states that Tom Robinson is dead and the man who is responsible is dead, so there’s no point of causes anymore troubles for a problem that has solved itself. And encourages Atticus to let Bob Ewell’s death go. Talking the case to court would put to death another innocent man. Boo did the right thing protecting Atticus’s children, which he has been doing throughout the book, and carried Jem home.

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830 Words | 4 Pages

Jem, Scout, and Heck Tate all know that Boo fell on his knife, but they still say that Bob fell on his knife. Heck Tate says about Boo, “‘If it were and other man it would be different But not this man, Mr. Finch’”(Lee 370). This shows Heck Tate is beginning to see what kind of person Boo actually is. They cover for him because they realize they killed him for the safety of the kids, not for a bad reason.

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599 Words | 3 Pages

Scout is a very intelligent girl from birth and shows it throughout the novel. She learns to read before she even starts school, which angers her teacher due to an advantage over the other students. Scout is as intelligent as she is because of the way Atticus raised her. For being so young, she comes to understand big concepts quickly. For example, Atticus references the killing of a mockingbird early in the novel and Scout brings is back in conversation in the second to last chapter.

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723 Words | 3 Pages

Blindness results from the misunderstanding of others and the lack of personal knowledge. In To Kill a Mockingbird, several characters fail to see the obvious because they do not obtain first-hand familiarity with their community. A short and simple example of this particular blindness is found in Lula’s character. The indignant and disenfranchised character, Lula, makes a major appearance in chapter 12. Lula is portrayed as a seven feet high Negro woman who is racist and discourteous for persecuting the white children.

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879 Words | 4 Pages

“Ignorance, Prejudice, and Innocence” “I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year” (Lee 83). Author Harper Lee continues with this idea, spoken by Scout Finch, in Chapter 17 of her book To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout Finch, age six, is stripped of her innocence in a mid-20th century Alabama courtroom. On trial is a black man accused of rapping a young white woman. Scout’s father, a lawyer, is unaware of her presence during the interrogations and cross-examinations.

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1087 Words | 5 Pages

Towards the end of the book, the sheriff Heck Tate speaks out against Atticus on what he thinks is right. Boo Radley is under suspicion of killing Bob Ewell, and Heck Tate doesn’t want to arrest Boo. To Heck Tate, Boo didn’t kill Bob Ewell so he hasn’t done any harm, and he never has in the past either. Heck Tate says,  “To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an‘ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight—to me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin

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768 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley are two characters who represent the mockingbird. In the midst of finding who Boo truly is, Atticus Finch explains to his children, Jem and Scout, that it is a sin to kill the bird because they don’t do anything but make music. As the story progresses, and the two “mockingbirds” are being accused and attacked both verbally and physically, the identity of the mockingbirds surfaces. Tom Robinson was a crippled African American man whose left arm was a foot shorter than his right, where it was caught in a cotton gin.

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714 Words | 3 Pages

 Tom did not commit the crime that he was charged with. This is illustrated by the account of Heck Tate (192), Atticus’s cross-examination of Mr. Ewell (202) and Tom’s handicap (212). Mr. Tate tells the court that Mayella was mostly beat up on the right side

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1028 Words | 5 Pages

Even in a society that, overall, is diverse, people with similar ideas and experiences tend to congregate in small groups, where they are comfortable. It is much easier to remain in homogenous groups, among those who understand each other. When different groups combine, many different life experiences and points of view will be present and will potentially clash. Misunderstanding is bound to occur in some form when individuals of different backgrounds interact. When misunderstandings occur, people tend to respond with violence, fear, or stereotyping.

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724 Words | 3 Pages

Our World consists of terrorism, discrimination, and acts of horror. Imagine a life without all these terrible things, a life and society of understanding and acceptance. Would everyday life be easier or more difficult? In short thinking, the answer life would be made easier, less stressful and less dangerous. But, in reality people need bad things to happen in order to appreciate the good things in life.

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1877 Words | 8 Pages

Perception defines the world around you. It affects every aspect of your being: your thoughts, actions, beliefs, etc… In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch begins to understand just how impactful perception can be as she witnesses the deterioration of the dignity of Tom Robinson, a black man who is being tried for the rape of a white girl. In this intriguing read, Harper Lee demonstrates the theme of inaccurate allegations very effectively. More specifically, when inaccurate allegations that are solely based on perceptions are presented, the consequences can be significant, for others may suffer at great lengths.

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1339 Words | 6 Pages

If not for the major characters, the minor characters have played an equally important role in Maycomb with their contrasting views. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is mainly about Jem and Scout growing up under the difficult situations created in Alabama during The Great Depression. Stereotypes and discrimination are major problems in Maycomb. Scout and Jem Finch are raised by Atticus, with the help of Calpurnia, their maid. In the first part of the book, Scout, Jem and Dill are fascinated by Boo Radley because of the rumors they hear about him, and they try everything to make him come out of his house.

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571 Words | 3 Pages

An important sub-theme of this story is empathy. In chapter three Atticus tells Scout, “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.” (Lee 39). This teaches the reader to not generate assumptions about a person you don’t know very well, and to not form

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828 Words | 4 Pages

So, Atticus chose to protect Boo from the public eye rather than abide by the law and his "honest" ways he was so accustomed to follow.

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980 Words | 4 Pages

We live in a society today where judging others is a regular, everyday activity. Many people may blame a significant amount of this issue on the excessive amount of technology we have access too, but this problem has been around for much longer. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, it shows the ugliness that can come from judging others, but it also teaches two young children, Scout and Jem, to listen to others, so that you can have the opportunity to learn from them. Throughout the story many characters were able to demonstrate this lesson for the kids, but three that were true examples of it were Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch and Boo Radley. With only aiming to stand up for what they believe in and not worrying what everyone

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