Misunderstood Characters In To Kill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is filled with meaningful messages, life lessons, and perspectives of misunderstood characters. Set in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, the book is about the Finch family, Jem, Scout, and Atticus, as they see racism and prejudice through their community. The main character, Jem and Scout’s father, Atticus, receives a case to defend a man named Tom Robinson who is charged with the rape and assault of Mayella Ewell. In the novel, Lee presents the idea that everyone's life situations are different, so to understand each other’s, we need to understand others' perspectives and opinions. Atticus demonstrates the quality of being perspective when he talks to his daughter about her teacher giving money to a student in

Atticus explains to Scouts that we need to see the perspective of her teacher and see that her view is different from Scouts and that needs to be understood. He shows Scout that seeing the perspective of others can help you understand the people around you better. In chapter 11, Atticus demonstrates the quality of being sensible when he explains to Scout that everything will be okay since she doesn't understand why he believes defending Tom Robinson is right when most people in town are saying it's wrong. Atticus then explains that everyone has a right to their own opinion and he knows in his mind what's right to him, even if it's wrong to others. Atticus says to Scout “well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you’ll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn’t let you down. This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience- Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.” Atticus is sensible to the situation his defendant is put in and is very understanding that people have different opinions from him but he knows he’s not in the wrong and it's the right thing to do to defend

Atticus says to Jem “There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance. Don’t fool yourselves – it’s all adding up and one of these days we’re going to pay the bill for it. I hope it’s not in your children’s time.” Atticus shows empathy toward black people who are being taken advantage of and sees their view that they’re mistreated by white people, he’s aware that they are shown racism and the Robinson case was unfair and prejudiced. In summary, Atticus looks at situations from other perspectives, even if they have different opinions from him. He helps his children understand that by teaching them even though others might think differently and feel indifferent since their life situation has/is different. Doing that shows respect and politeness to the people, and understanding their opinion is different and they show empathy towards