Education is the key to human survival To Kill a Mockingbird is the perfect book to ensure that young adults enter the real world prepared for the challenges they will face. Harper Lee shines a light on many important morals that are continuously overlooked in society today. This novel benefits high school students because it teaches them valuable life lessons such as being open-minded, unprejudiced, and understanding. It is crucial to continue teaching this novel as a part of the high school education system.
To Kill a Mockingbird is an important piece of literature that should be mandatory for students to read because of the plethora of life essentials. Mrs. Dubose an old woman facing a morphine addiction, says repugnant comments towards Atticus Finch, a lawyer and a single father of two. Atticus decides that instead of using derogatory language to reply back to Mrs. Dubose, he should keep an open mind by Although, Jem and Scout, the children of Atticus, show hatred and disgust towards Mrs. Dubose.
On the contrary, Atticus shows understanding towards everyone, even Mrs. Dubose who belittles him with dreadful comments. “Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for n*ggers! Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for! ” says Mrs. Dubose (Lee 101). As seen, Mrs. Dubose does not seem very fond of Atticus. Although, Mr. Finch ignores the old womans opinion, he does by thinking from different perspectives of the situation.
This enables him to understand why Mrs. Dubose gives these opinions of him. Through another event, Atticus shows how open-minded he truly is. When Scout comes home from school upset by her teachers arrogance, Atticus says to Scout, “You never really understand a person unless you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 30). When Atticus says this, he implies that you do not truly understand everything about a person unless you consider things from their point of view, only then can you make an opinion on them.
This is a very exceptional quote because it teaches readers that if one always considers things from a single point of view, one cannot simply comprehend a situation fully. Furthermore, Atticus is an impeccable example to students who tend to view situations from their own personal point of view, because he shows that the more perspectives one has on a situation, the more reasonable the solution would be.
To be unprejudiced is to be equal and not create an opinion of someone based off of other preconceived ideas. Miss Maudie, a simple middle aged woman, is a great example of an unprejudiced character within the novel. She is a character who understands the town more than many others. She believes that every person deserves a chance to express their opinions, and that every person shall not be declared guilty for simply their skin colour, as Tom Robinson, a black man, is.
When Miss Maudie says, “The handful of people in this town who say that fair play is not marked White Only; the handful of people who say a fair trial is for everybody, not just us; the handful of people with enough humility to think, when they look at a Negro, there but for the Lord’s kindness am I” (Lee 236), she proves that society is blind sighted, only caring about their own perspectives and wants, without thinking about anyone else, even those whodeserve it. Atticus is a lawyer who was willing to take on the case of Tom Robinson when nobody else does. He knows that
Tom is innocent, even if he is a coloured man. He also knows Tom’s case would inevitably be proven guilty, yet he didn’t give up on him. This shows that Atticus doesn’t care about skin colour because it is something you simply cannot choose and that in the end, everyone is human. All in all, Miss Maudie and Atticus are portrayed as unprejudiced characters within the novel who are extraordinary examples as role models for high school students to follow. In society today, students face countless stereotypes, eventually growing up based on society’s idea of “ideal”.
Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, many characters are looked down upon, as they differ from Maycomb’s norms. In the novel, Aunt Alexandra, Atticus’s’ sister, continuously scolds Scout, as she is not dressed as a “proper” lady. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress she said that I wasn’t suppose to be doing things that required pants… in my father’s lonely life” (Lee 108).
Although, Scout fends off Aunt Alexandra’s comments toward her attire and continues to dress as she prefers. This event in the novel represents situations in society that many face, as they may not exactly fit in the norms of society, where one may wear less common attire than usual or be unique in any way. Similar to how Scout is against her attire, Atticus is discriminated against his will to defend Tom Robinson, a black man. Atticus Finch is the only lawyer who is willing to take the case of Tom Robinson, even though the trials loss would be inevitable. For a number of reasons,” said Atticus.
“The main one is, if I didn’t, I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the In society today, students face countless stereotypes, eventually growing up based on society’s idea of “ideal”. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, many characters are looked down upon, as they differ from Maycomb’s norms. In the novel, Aunt Alexandra, Atticus’s’ sister, continuously scolds Scout, as she is not dressed as a “proper” lady. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire.
I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress she said that I wasn’t suppose to be doing things that required pants… in my father’s lonely life” (Lee 108). Although, Scout fends off Aunt Alexandra’s comments toward her attire and continues to dress as she prefers. This event in the novel represents situations in society that many face, as they may not exactly fit in the norms of society, where one may wear less common attire than usual or be unique in any way.
Similar to how Scout is against her attire, Atticus is discriminated against his will to defend Tom Robinson, a black man. Atticus Finch is the only lawyer who is willing to take the case of Tom Robinson, even though the trials loss would be inevitable. “For a number of reasons,” said Atticus. “The main one is, if I didn’t, I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again…
Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess. ” (Lee 75). This shows that Atticus simply feels this is the right thing to do, even with most of the town against the idea of a white man helping a black. In any case, through the given examples, being unique and original, is always the better option; as following the norms is not always better.
This lesson teaches students to be one’s original self because anything other than that, truly is not them. Furthermore, this story demonstrates to readers that in one’s life, there are many morals that are vital to learn. By reading To Kill A MockingBird, one discovers numerous character traits to take after and to hone, leading to self improvement. Important morals that the novel teaches is to be open-minded, unprejudiced and unique. The novel will be mentioned constantly for decades, as it is without a doubt a phenomenally educational book.
