"Knowing is not understanding. There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it" once said by Charles Kettering. In the town of Maycomb, Atticus defends a black man from being convicted of rape. His children Scout and Jem grow up from as innocent children to understanding racism within their community. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee informs the readers that growing up can teach you how understanding other people can make you a better person through symbolism, characterization, and dialogue.
First, Lee uses symbolism to demonstrate how Scout develops a better understanding of Atticus and Boo Radley. In the beginning of the book, Atticus gives Scout and Jem air-rifles but did not teach them how to shoot. This is because he wanted to teach them the essence of killing a mockingbird. For example, Atticus informs Scout about how innocent mockingbirds are when he says, ' 'I 'd rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you 'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit
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With Scout 's development, she increased her amount of knowledge by being rubbed off of the other characters. Lee showed that understanding other people will teach you valuable life lessons and shape you into a better person. In the world, many people do not agree with a person exactly, which is why people must be open to viewing other people 's thoughts from different perspectives to fully understand empathy. In other words, people often mistake knowing as understanding, but no matter how many times someone can know something, not everyone will understand the true meaning behind someone 's thought. All in all, humans should be aware of their surroundings to learn, benefit and gain information from