Maycomb Miranda Mixner Have you ever wondered how people's words or actions will affect someone in the long run? In the book To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, the main character Scout and her brother Jem live in a town called Maycomb. The town of Maycomb is a small neighborhood where everybody knows everybody. But every town has its peculiarities. Down the street from Scout and her family, there is another family known as the Radley’s. Within this family, there is one boy that sticks out the most, Arthur “Boo” Radley. Boo likes to stay in the house and never leave. This is strange to the town because everybody is very social and likes to be outside. Since everybody likes to be outside and socialize, people's actions have an effect …show more content…
The three people that shaped Jem and Scout to the people that have become is Atticus, Miss Maudie, and Calpurnia. The first person that really shapes Jem and Scout to the kind of people that they will become is Atticus. Atticus is their father. He is a very wise man that has a lot of insightful advice for his two children. One quote that really stuck out to me and I thought was really insightful was “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.” Atticus gave this advice to Scout after she has a really bad day at school with a new teacher. He tells her this so maybe she won’t get upset if she thinks about the situation from the teacher's perspective. I think this shows that Atticus is really influencing Jem because he is trying to make her grow up some and realize there are two sides to every story. The second reason that I believe that Atticus shapes Jem and Scout to the people that they will become is when he tells them that they need to respect Boo Radley’s privacy. The reason that I believe this really shapes them is because they don’t actually listen to him when he says that. When …show more content…
In the beginning chapters Scout and Calpurnia’s relationship isn’t that great, they mostly just talk when need be. Scout refers to her as a “... tyrannical presence... Our battles were epic and one-sided. Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side.” This quote shows that they didn’t have much of a relationship, but the little that they actually had they spent it arguing. But later on in the book once Scout and Calpurnia’s relationship begins to flower, she slowly begins to realize that Cal is both a friend and role model. Once they have a good relationship Scout begins to look at Cal more as a second mom than anything. The second reason that Calpurnia influences them is because when Walter Cunningham first came over for dinner at their house, Scout insulted Walter when he was pouring molasses all over his food. Walter is poor and his family is very poor, and to make his food flavorful, he has a habit of pouring molasses on his food to improve the taste that his food has. Scout isn’t used to seeing people act in this way, so she found this odd. Cal then yelled at Scout to stop judging Walter and to stop being mean and tells her to try to see people's perspective before judging them. The last reason is that Calpurnia is a truly loving person and she cares for Scout. She does the same thing with Jem, and with any other person who is honest.