Everyone enters the world with the same mentality. No individual is born hateful nor admirable, since perspectives and morals are shaped by what is taught growing up. Those varying perspectives are capable of creating disagreements in daily life. How does one handle these conflicts when taught at the same time to value everyoneś opinion regardless of differences? Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird follows the journey of the Finch family learning to navigate their traditional hometown in Alabama, where white citizens are treated superior to black citizens. The kids, Jem and Scout are broad minded and view the world from a rare perspective, due to their father Atticus, who is a lawyer and teaches his kids unbiased …show more content…
“It’s like bein’ a caterpillar in a cocoon, that's what it is,” Jem explains to Ms. Maudie. A simile is used to compare a caterpillar in a cocoon with Jem’s childhood, growing up on the privileged side of Maycomb. Both are raised protected from the negative aspects of their surroundings, and therefore grow up assuming the entire world is righteous. This simile marks the beginning of Jem’s understanding of the injustice he has grown up oblivious to his entire life. Jem also explains on page 288, “I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that's what they seemed like,”. Jem realizes equality is not everyone’s reality following the courthouse. Jem is now able to identify those who are mistreated, and begins to learn to draw the line between those who mistreat others unconsciously and vise versa. Jem’s mental comprehension expands as he experiences his eye opening moment to prejudice that a lot of Maycomb’s citizens missed, where he begins to understand the imperfections of his small town and eliminate previous misconceptions he had heard growing