People go through life criticizing their own selves, including each other. It is not certain why the public does this. It may be insecurity of themselves or being blinded by society’s stereotypes. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee explores this idea of judging others, before experiencing who they really are. Jean “Scout” Louis Finch narrates the story of how her brother Jeremy “Jem” Finch broke his arm. She goes through their childhood from the stories of rabid dogs and mysterious phantoms to the adulthood case of Tom Robinson. In the end, both children are saved by the same person feared during their youth. Lee uses mockingbirds in this novel to portray the innocent yet most giving people who society punishes. Harper
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Atticus concerns himself on being the same man inside his home as well as to the town. When Atticus is chosen to represent Tom Robinson, the town criticizes him for doing so truthfully. When people of Maycomb call him a “nigger-lover”, he says, “It 's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody 's favoring Negroes over and above themselves,”(144). Like the mockingbirds, Atticus is attacked for assisting a man in need, who just so happened to be black. The whites of the town think that Atticus is putting blacks higher than whites, but he only wants equality. Lee describes another scene of the town’s view of Atticus when Scout recalls, “Don’t see why you touched it in the first place,” Mr. Link Deas was saying. “You’ve got everything to lose from this Atticus. I mean everything.” (195).The entire town views Atticus’ decision as his downfall because society does not want blacks and whites to have equal treatment. To Scout and Jem, Atticus is a mentor as well as a father. He teaches them to be fair to everyone. This is shown through the dialogue as Lee writes, “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,” (39). Atticus teaches the children what it morally right despite what society teaches. Through his teachings, the children are guided to look from other perspectives instead of assuming and acting on that assumption. In either case, Atticus is the same person and teaches his children to behave a certain way even though, like mockingbirds, they may be attacked for
Atticus concerns himself on being the same man inside his home as well as to the town. When Atticus is chosen to represent Tom Robinson, the town criticizes him for doing so truthfully. When people of Maycomb call him a “nigger-lover”, he says, “It 's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody 's favoring Negroes over and above themselves,”(144). Like the mockingbirds, Atticus is attacked for assisting a man in need, who just so happened to be black. The whites of the town think that Atticus is putting blacks higher than whites, but he only wants equality. Lee describes another scene of the town’s view of Atticus when Scout recalls, “Don’t see why you touched it in the first place,” Mr. Link Deas was saying. “You’ve got everything to lose from this Atticus. I mean everything.” (195).The entire town views Atticus’ decision as his downfall because society does not want blacks and whites to have equal treatment. To Scout and Jem, Atticus is a mentor as well as a father. He teaches them to be fair to everyone. This is shown through the dialogue as Lee writes, “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,” (39). Atticus teaches the children what it morally right despite what society teaches. Through his teachings, the children are guided to look from other perspectives instead of assuming and acting on that assumption. In either case, Atticus is the same person and teaches his children to behave a certain way even though, like mockingbirds, they may be attacked for