The novel To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is an accurate depiction of its time. Aside from Atticus Finch, nearly every featured character serves as a symbol of the racial and social ignorance of the 1930s. As both racial and social discrimination are at work in Maycomb, Alabama, Atticus serves as an outlier of the community with higher moral standards than nearly everyone around him, claiming that “you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (321). This quote illustrates that we may never understand what someone is experiencing unless we are put in their situation. Atticus’s statement is defended through readings of To Kill A Mockingbird and personal experiences with sexually abused women in Peru.
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Due to of the community’s failure to understand Boo’s life, Jem, Scout, and Dill view Boo as something out of horror movie. The children describe him as “about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were blood-stained” (14). It was not until the end of the novel that Scout truly understood how the cold-shoulder Boo received could be affecting him physically, mentally, and emotionally. After standing on his porch, she realized he was her caretaker of sorts, watching his children grow and change as the seasons came and went; “[in the] summer, [Boo] watched his children’s heartbreak. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him.” She then goes on to say that “Atticus was right. You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (321). Scout was afraid of Boo before she realized that Maycomb misunderstood him, a realization that only happened because she stood on his porch one night. This supports Atticus’s statement that you never truly understand someone until you are in their
Due to of the community’s failure to understand Boo’s life, Jem, Scout, and Dill view Boo as something out of horror movie. The children describe him as “about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were blood-stained” (14). It was not until the end of the novel that Scout truly understood how the cold-shoulder Boo received could be affecting him physically, mentally, and emotionally. After standing on his porch, she realized he was her caretaker of sorts, watching his children grow and change as the seasons came and went; “[in the] summer, [Boo] watched his children’s heartbreak. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him.” She then goes on to say that “Atticus was right. You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (321). Scout was afraid of Boo before she realized that Maycomb misunderstood him, a realization that only happened because she stood on his porch one night. This supports Atticus’s statement that you never truly understand someone until you are in their