Moral Lessons In To Kill A Mockingbird

Morality shapes the person. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, we see the protagonists, Scout and Junior, building their moral character throughout the story. They receive moral lessons, and they influence their life decisions. Lessons include: having to understand a person from one’s point of view, how wrong it is to destroy one’s innocence, the serious problem of discrimination, and tears don’t always mean weakness but the care.

“‘...You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,’” (Lee 39). After Scout’s first day of the school, she explains to Atticus how …show more content…
It’s the most powerful, and yet the significant lesson in this book. When Atticus got Scout and Jem the air-rifles, he and Miss Maudie told them not to shoot mockingbird. They don’t harm us, but to sing joyfully: they are innocent. This foreshadows to Tom Robinson. He is innocent, and means no harm to others. However he falsely accused, and gets shot after- his innocence gets shattered. Bob Ewell, the non-innocent one escapes from being shot: bluejay. One night, Bob Ewell was after Scout and Jem. During that, Bob Ewell somehow dies and Jem was injured. Mr.Tate tries to accuse Boo Radley as the murderer. However, in Scout’s mind, Boo Radley is innocent as a mocking bird. “‘Mr. Tate was right…Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?’” (Lee370). Scout says this to assure Atticus, but also shows that now she got the meaning of mockingbird, and implied it to Boo Radley. We see Scout have made a big step towards understanding the innocence. This could also relate to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. “...plenty of Indians have died because they were drunk. And plenty of drunken Indians have killed other drunken drivers,” (Alexie 158). Junior’s sister and his friend, Mary and Eugene, dies by alcohol. They both were innocent, and were the very few people who truly cares about Junior. However death of Junior’s Grandma was …show more content…
This lesson was said by Gordy, Junior’s white friend, when Junior tells him about how people in the rez calls him the apple: red in the outside and white on the inside. Arnold Junior who leaves the Indian reservation to find the hope. Anyhow, he gets treated as the traitor in the rez. He soon confuses with his identity, “I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other. It was like being Indian was my job, but it was only a part-time job. And it didn’t pay well at all,” (Alexie 118). Junior tries to be part of the both Indian and white community, but it was hard to break through the wall of racism. Later Junior realizes that racism shouldn’t hold his back. “‘I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,...By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn’t true. The world is broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not,’” (Alexie 176). This quote shows Junior’s big realization and him slowly solving through the puzzle of his identity and society. Gordy’s lesson could also relate to Calpurnia from To Kill a Mockingbird. She grasps the way to live through the racist society. When she’s with white people, she uses the proper grammar, and don’t talk like other black people. However when she’s along with black people, she turns completely opposite. “‘They’s my comp’ny,’ said Calpurnia. Again I thought her