Values And Beliefs In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

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Children from a young age are affected by the people and things around them. In the story we see events through the eyes of scout who is 6 years old when the novel begins. As Jem and Scout grows up, they are influenced by some more characters in the story. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a MockingBird, Calpurnia, miss Maudie and Mrs Dubose are minor characters who influence the values and beliefs of Jem and Scout. Calpurnia tries her best to raise the children according to her beliefs which includes teaching the children how to act in a respectable manner. An example of Calpurnia teaching the children morality and good manners was when Scout was rude to Walter Cunningham: “Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ company …show more content…
She treats and talks to Jem and Scout like an adult. She gives the children advice and helps them understand the people around them. Therefore the children listen to her and seeks her advice. “Jem and I had considerable faith in Miss Maudie...she was ours friend” (P. 59). As the children grow older, they spend more time with Miss Maudie. She impacts them by giving them her honest opinion and she teaches Scout that being a lady does not mean changing who you are to please others and scout learns that later in the book..............Miss Maudie also acts as a positive role model to the children. She always finds a way to turn negative situation into a positive one. For example when Mrs Maudie’s house burnt down and everyone was in a panic but Mrs Maudie was very calm and said: “Always wanted a smaller house Jem Finch. Gives me more yard, Just think, I’ll have more room for my azaleas” (p.97). Miss Maudie positively impacts the children by seeing the good in everything and everyone. She has a very strong moral code. Miss Maudie once again offers some advice and praise towards Atticus, his character and what he stands for. For example when scout asked her about why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, she responded: “ Mocking Birds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up peoples garden, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t done thing but sing their hearts out for us, thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird” (p.119). Miss Maudie is one of the few who does not succumb to the racism and prejudice in Maycomb. Although Scout does not understand the full meaning of the statement, as the children grows, they begin to understand why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird such as later in the book when Mr Heck Tate said that Bob Ewell fell on his knife. Scout tells her father that she understand that it is an example of shooting a mockingbird. She was impacted by Miss Maudie’s morals. The last minor

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