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Tapestry Of Guidance In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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A Tapestry Of Guidance Gossip has affected society for centuries, promoting a toxic conformity from the societal acceptance of the South’s deep-rooted racist nature. Children often imitate their parents' behaviors, acting on their discriminatory teaching and standardized derogatory language. Nowadays, intervening in another’s parenting can be deemed as rude or inappropriate since it is “not their child,” and not their place to say. Though when that child copies that behavior from home to outside of their dwelling, it is not always a positive effect. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel, Lee demonstrates how a town’s gossip and lies can affect a community deeply; however, the adults of Maycomb have found a way through their oppressive …show more content…

When Scout comes home frustrated from school, she complains about her new teacher Miss. Caroline, who made an abrupt comment about Scout knowing how to read. Wanting to stop attending school, Scout seeks solace from her father, his response being: “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). Atticus treats all people with dignity and respect, as he continues to fight for equality. By treating everyone the same regardless of their background, and keeping his calm attitude, Scout and Jem learn to give characters a chance before making up an idea on who they are. Examples are Boo Radley and Walter Cunningham, Atticus continues to explain how Walter and Boo are not bad people, they are just in bad situations and their superficial appearances do not define them for who they are. When Scout is upset that her classmate Cecil Jacobs insults her father, Atticus explains to the Scout that people use insults as a reflection of their own ignorance and prejudices, he claims that “It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name” but instead it “shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you" (Lee 144-145). Atticusd tells Scout to recognize that people will always have different opinions and beliefs in their world. He reminds her that she should rise above insults and not result to violence. It is an important lesson in Scout’s development since it teaches her the importance of understanding the truth before jumping to conclusions. Here we see that Scout is finally realizing that there could be more to a person than first impressions. Insults are more a reflection of their oppressors character, it is a reflection of one's insecurities, prejudices and negative feelings that they project on another. Since Scout and Jem were

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This affects Scout because she feels it’s an insult being said about her father. One of the most important parts of the story and racism is the Tom Robinson trial. In the story Scout asks, “Why do you defend n******s?” Atticus responds saying he has to or he wouldn’t feel like a good person. This affects Tom Robinson because even Atticus’s kids question why Tom Robinson deserves to be defended.

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This quote illustrates the beginning of Scout’s loss of innocence, which essentially results in her gaining the knowledge of the racist society that she is living in. Scout begins to persecut by kids

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Atticus Finch believes “ You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Pg 39). He tells this to his young and Naive daughter Scout, because she doesn’t understand the people in her town that she doesn’t know very well. Over the course of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem learn about prejudice. Although there are many events with a variety of different people who have been perceived differently than they really are throughout the novel, the kids are most impacted by Mrs. Dubose, Mr. Raymond, and Boo Radley. As a result they learn that is is really hard to blame a person when you look at things from their perspective.

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In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout embodies Atticus’ advice regarding both her internal and external conflicts stemming from the court case, which leads to her discovering the theme that adversity is not worth one’s relationships with those they are close to. During the plot, Jem and Scout are continuously ridiculed by their family and classmates due to the fact that their father is defending Tom Robinson, a black man, in a trial. The two act irrationally in response, whether it is Scout fighting her cousin, Francis, or Jem cutting down fellow Maycomb resident, Miss Dubose’s camellia bushes. When Atticus discovers these things, he tells his children that in this case, “(they) aren’t fighting the Yankees”, but instead their loved ones; however, it should not get in between those ties, as in the end “they’re still (their) friends and this is still (their) home” (Lee 76).

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Scout admits she feels fine and Atticus asks her what is wrong. She tells him that her teacher, Miss Caroline, says that they cannot read together anymore because she is too advanced for her age. Atticus responds with, “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). Though Scout does not fully understand the concept of this lesson, it slowly comes to her as the book advances. She is able to make many connections using what Atticus taught her, and she truly understands the meaning of standing in another person’s shoes.

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Furthermore Scout interactions with Atticus help her to further understand empathy. After Scout’s first day of school, she does not want to go back because of an incident with her teacher. Atticus says “ First of all, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout you’ll get along with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-” “ Sir?” “- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

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I 'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it 's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn 't hurt you." (Lee 124) With this quote Atticus not only teaches Scout and Jem to love everyone, but also not to let anyone or anything get in the way of you doing that. Lastly, Atticus shows the children not only that some people are simply bad people, but also that you should not do the bad things they do.

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You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view" (Lee 39). Atticus also continuously advises Scout and Jem to maintain self-control and to engage in respectful behaviors throughout the book. In Chapter 9, Scout asks Atticus if he defends “niggers” Atticus explains to Scout that he will be defending a man named Tom

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the judgmental and nonchalant attitudes of the people in Maycomb bestow both a negative and positive effect on the main characters in the novel. The traditional dynamic of the community prompts racism, and Atticus must take a stand over the judgment, name-calling, and the effect it has on his family. Sticking to these norms, the people in Maycomb hold each other to high standards, generating a tense and scrutinizing mood. Not only do false accusations create a misunderstanding of the Radley family, but Scout is also trapped between the guidelines of where she fits in. The traditional and monotonous setting of Maycomb, Alabama is the root cause for the standards the community holds for one another.

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Jem attacks Scout’s gender and insults her about acting like a girl whenever he feels she challenges his manhood. Atticus tries to teach Scout about controlling her emotions and urges. Atticus tells Scout to fight with her head and not her fists. Atticus defending a black man causes people in town to look down on him. Scout is getting teased in school because of this.

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Atticus tells her “If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (39). In this quote, it shows that Scout, who is not only a child, but the representation of children, does not know how to look at things from other people's perspectives. Furthermore, she still isn’t able to look at things from other’s perspectives even though Atticus told her to, and this lasts until the end when she is entering adulthood. The quote also shows that Atticus, the symbol of reasonable adults does know better than to judge someone without walking in their shoes first.

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While Scout is walking past the Radley house she narrates, “I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse, when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley” (324). Scout’s remorse for what they did to Arthur Radley shows that she has developed concern for other people’s feelings. Here, Scout is putting herself into Arthur’s shoes to think about how he must have felt when they were playing tricks on him and trying to get him to come out. Also, she now calls him “Arthur” instead of “Boo”, which shows that she has considered how she would feel if everyone was calling her by a hurtful and judgmental name. Significantly, if Scout did not have Atticus to teach her these important lessons, she would not have learned to be compassionate and to take other people’s feelings into consideration.

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Atticus tells Scout to keep her head up and avoid any fights when anyone is saying something bad about Atticus. Keeping this in mind, when Cecil Jacobs is intimidating Scout by calling her Atticus a nigger-lover. She refused to fight thinking “Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and me to do something for him, I could take being called a coward for him. I felt extremely noble for having remembered, and remained noble for three weeks” (77).

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At school, Scout nearly starts a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs after he declares that her “daddy defends niggers” (Lee, 74). Scout being too young to fully understand this statement automatically denies it. Atticus, who has been asked to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman has received many controversial remarks on his take of the case. Although Scout does not initiate the fight with Cecil, her “fists [a]re clenched and [she is] ready to let [them] fly” (Lee, 74). This depicts another one of Scout’s un-ladylike reactions because the ladylike response would be to simply ignore the boy and to remain prim and proper.

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