The lessons learned in life are what guide the path for future success and allow mistakes to be avoided. One prime example of this is with the character Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout’s life is filled with controversy, hatred, and fear of the unknown, but she grows to understand all of this with the help of her father, Atticus. He--with the help of others--teaches Scout and her brother Jem very important lessons that will stay with them forever. Three of the most important life lessons taught to the children are empathy, respect, and that appearances can be deceiving.
The most important life lesson that Scout learns throughout the book is empathy. This specific lesson is relayed by Atticus when he states “You never really …show more content…
She learns to respect others, even when she may not apprehend them or their actions. This huge lesson helps her better understand people’s boundaries, and again, teaches her that she may not comprehend what everyone does or why. Once again, this message was first introduced to Scout by Atticus after Mrs. Dubose’s death. The importance of respect becomes clear to Scout when her father declares “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (149). The children (Scout and Jem) do not understand that Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict, but trying to quit before her death. They judge her by looking at her drool and twitching body, but in actuality, it is only happening because she was going through a lot of pain. Atticus teaches the children to respect her by letting them know what she went through and how highly he thinks of …show more content…
Although this is not taught to her by Atticus, it is still extremely important in Scout’s future. An underdeveloped character, Dolphus Raymond, shows Scout the true meaning of´don’t judge a book by its cover when he says “It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey--that’s why he won’t change his ways. He can’t help himself, that’s why he lives the way he does” (268). Everyone in Maycomb believes that Mr. Raymond is just some drunk who cannot keep his act together, but in reality, no one in town is capable of understanding the truth. He merely drinks soda out of a brown bag and lets all the people around him come to the conclusion that it is alcohol, so that he can live the life he chooses. Once Scout discovers Mr. Raymond is not the drunk that the townspeople think him to be, it opens her eyes to the realization that mere assumptions are not fact until proven
The most important life lesson that Scout learns throughout the book is empathy. This specific lesson is relayed by Atticus when he states “You never really …show more content…
She learns to respect others, even when she may not apprehend them or their actions. This huge lesson helps her better understand people’s boundaries, and again, teaches her that she may not comprehend what everyone does or why. Once again, this message was first introduced to Scout by Atticus after Mrs. Dubose’s death. The importance of respect becomes clear to Scout when her father declares “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (149). The children (Scout and Jem) do not understand that Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict, but trying to quit before her death. They judge her by looking at her drool and twitching body, but in actuality, it is only happening because she was going through a lot of pain. Atticus teaches the children to respect her by letting them know what she went through and how highly he thinks of …show more content…
Although this is not taught to her by Atticus, it is still extremely important in Scout’s future. An underdeveloped character, Dolphus Raymond, shows Scout the true meaning of´don’t judge a book by its cover when he says “It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey--that’s why he won’t change his ways. He can’t help himself, that’s why he lives the way he does” (268). Everyone in Maycomb believes that Mr. Raymond is just some drunk who cannot keep his act together, but in reality, no one in town is capable of understanding the truth. He merely drinks soda out of a brown bag and lets all the people around him come to the conclusion that it is alcohol, so that he can live the life he chooses. Once Scout discovers Mr. Raymond is not the drunk that the townspeople think him to be, it opens her eyes to the realization that mere assumptions are not fact until proven