In the novel, Atticus teaches Scout very valuable and useful lessons about life and how you should behave towards others. Scout’s character listens very carefully to Atticus’s character and observes him taking on his lessons and applying them to his own life. Scout is a very lively, childish, and outspoken character, who we see growing up during the course of the novel. I think Harper Lee chose Scout to be the narrator because she is the only one who still has a bit of her innocence and naivety by the end of the novel, so we learn everything from her point of view, with knowing the outcome of it all.
Atticus’s character always encourages Scout to never give up and to always try your hardest to fight for what you want. “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win”. Here, Atticus’s character knows that there is a 99% chance that he will lose but still gives hope to Scout’s character that the future can change if you do something about it. This links in with the prejudiced society in the 1930s and how people couldn’t share their views and black people couldn’t fight for justice. Atticus’s character wants Scout’s character to know that the world is a revolting place because of that and shows her that everyone deserve equality.
Scout’s character also learns and experiences not to judge people before you know what they do it. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around it”. Scout’s character really learns a lot from these words by Atticus because she thought someone like Mrs Dubose was cruel to everybody because she was just a mean person who didn’t care about anyone’s feelings. However, Scout’s character later found out that Mrs Dubose was suffering through an illness which she went through without medication raw pain and death. This suddenly made Mrs Dubose’s character wise and respectful and someone Atticus’s character looked up to. This event reminds Scout’s character how quickly her point of view changed just because she knew that person’s story.
I think this lesson has got to be implemented into everybody’s thoughts and actions even today. People rush too quickly to judge others, but they need to be reminded; you might know their name but you do not know their story.
Scout’s character learns during the course of the novel, to protect and look out for people who are lower in society and who do not have a voice. “Shoot all the blue joys you want, if you can hit em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Here, Atticus’s character is trying to emphasise that Scout can “shoot all the blue joys” which symbolises all the bad people IF she can, to get justice for the innocent people who haven’t done anything wrong to harm anyone. Atticus’s character uses the word “mockingbird” to symbolise the innocent people, and I think this is a very appropriate metaphor because all mockingbirds do is sing beautifully and are not dangerous in any way, so there is no reason to kill them. This reflects back to the prejudiced society in the 1930s and how even though white people knew black people done nothing to harm the community, they still thought they deserved punishment because of the colour of their skin. This quote evolves and is actually put into action by the end of the novel, because Atticus’s character and the sheriff’s character come to the solution to cover up for Boo Radley’s actions for the killing of Bob Ewell’s character. Atticus’s character knows that putting Boo’s character to jail is no way of repaying him for saving his children.
Atticus’s character strongly believes in equality and thinks of the human race as a whole. He tries to make Scout’s character understand and respect his views. “I think there’s just one kind of folks, folks”. This quote by Scout’s character proves Atticus’s character has succeeded…