Words of Wisdom The quote that Atticus tells Scout in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is true. This quote is true because each individual’s circumstances are different and because every person has had their own life experiences, ones that only a few people can relate to, but not completely understand. When Miss Caroline sees a cootie in Burris Ewell’s hair, she freaks out and her instant reaction is panicking. After calming down, Miss Caroline excuses Burris for the rest of the afternoon and tells him to go and wash his hair with lye soap and treat his scalp with kerosene. Harper Lee describes Burris’s condition through the following quote, “The boy stood up. He was the filthiest human I had ever seen. His neck was dark gray, …show more content…
By this, it is proved that one would not be able to understand a person until and unless they are familiar with life from their point of view. Miss Caroline was from Winston County in Northern Alabama and Scout and the rest of the class were from Maycomb County in Southern Alabama. Maycomb was described as and old town in comparison to the richer and more cultured Winston County. This leads to Miss Caroline not fully understanding the conditions the kids of her class live in proving as to why Miss Caroline was so shocked seeing a cootie in Burris’s hair while nobody else in the class seemed shocked, and as a matter of fact, behaved completely normal. Furthermore, another reason as to why this quote is true is because life experiences too play a role in understanding a person. While Miss Caroline is going around, looking and touching into lunch boxes she realizes the Walter Cunningham did not have his lunch with him and at that point, Miss Caroline offers him a quarter, so that he can go and buy a lunch. However, Walter doesn’t take the quarter because he knows that he cannot pay Miss Caroline back because he is poor. Miss Caroline doesn’t seem to understand this issue because she grew up in a richer area and she had not come across a problem