To Kill A Mockingbird Research Paper

As a young child one believes that one learns everything from our parents or teachers, but in reality life’s lessons are taught by experiences and the people one sees. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel that teaches the reader a lot about American history and also some life lessons. The two children in this novel, Jem and Scout learn a lot of lessons not only from their intelligent and practical father, Atticus but also from other’s experiences. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” Harper Lee portrays that one can learn valuable life lessons from anyone by showing how Jem and Scout develop their characters as they have many life experiences. Life lessons about courage, positivity and empathy are all taught to Jem and Scout as they grow older and experience more.

The first lesson Jem and Scout learn is

At times doing the right thing is scary and requires a lot of bravery. To begin with, Mrs. Dubose is a mean old lady, who Jem and Scout both despise but surprisingly learn an important lesson from. At first Jem found it useless to go read to Mrs. Dubose. Later, Atticus talks to Jem and he tells Jem “She was the bravest person I ever knew” (Lee 149). He explains to Jem that Mrs. Dubose is courageous because she already knew that she was going to die but still wanted to get rid of her morphine addiction as she wanted to die free with no regrets. From this lesson Jem learns that to solve a personal problem you have to be brave and take action. Jem uses this lesson when he had to get his pants from the Radley house “I’ve got to.” (Lee 74). He wanted and had to get them but he had to be exceedingly courageous. Jem and Scout learn a lot from talking to their father, when they see him act brave and protect Tom Robinson they learn and understand a lesson about courage. When Tom Robinson is in the Maycomb jail there is a possibility that a mob might come and kill him, so Atticus goes to protect Tom in the dark all by himself. Seeing Atticus