Learning lessons is a very important part of growing up. Children learn new things every day of their life. Even adults learn something every once in a while. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character Scout is very adventurous and loves to learn; she has many experiences that lead to her being taught many different things about life. On page 12 of Cliff Notes for this novel, John Siva writes "each experience is designed to give Scout a further understanding about certain things in life and about people. In one way or another, every episode leads to some hype of learning experience for Scout".
Scout learns a lot of different things about her town's views, the people who she's heard about but never really knew, and how to treat others the proper way. Scout learns a lot about her town and how everybody feels about different issues. Race is a major factor of being discriminated. However, how much money your family has is big in being discriminated. Scout attempts to tell their new school teacher, Miss Caroline, about how Walter Cunningham won't borrow money because "The Cunningham never took anything they can't pay back- no church baskets and no crisp stamps.They never took anything off of anybody, they get along on what they have.
They don't have much, but they get along on it" (22). Scout and Gem ended up bringing Walter home with them for lunch that day and she realized that Walter was a complex individual with his own burdens and dreams. Another example of people being discriminated would be Dollops Raymond, a white man who is married to a colored woman and lives with the colored folk. He and his wife have lots of mixed children. Gem explains to Scout that the mixed children are real sad because "they don't belong anywhere.
Colored folks won't have 'me cause they're half white; white folks won't have 'me cause they're colored, so they're Just in-between, don't belong anywhere" (184). Scout realizes then that her town Judges on skin color more than they should. For instance, Scout got in a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs after Cecil declares that "Scout Finch's daddy defended naggers" (85). Aunt Alexandra is also very against colored people. Because Tactics Finch took the case on Tom Robinson, she said that he was a disgrace to the family because he was representing a colored man.
All of their family thought Tactics shouldn't be involved in the case, because he was colored so he must be guilty. Also, on Christmas Day, Scout curses and beats her cousin Francis for calling Tactics a "Niger-lover" (94). Dollops Raymond was discriminated against Just for associating with colored people and Tactics was discriminated against for representing a black man in court. Scout learns that her town is Judgmental of everybody by their financial situation and their race.
Scout is always curious about the people around her, but sometimes the rumors and assumptions about others confused how she views them.When Gem has to read to Mrs.. Dubos as punishment for destroying all her camellia bushes, Scout accompanies him and they endure Mrs..
Double's abuse and peculiar fits, which occur at the end of every reading session. Mrs.. Dubos was always saying mean comments to everybody, so Scout always thought that she was Just a rude old lady.
After her death, Tactics tells Gem and Scout that she was addicted to morphine and ten rearing was near stressful way AT curing near location . Tattles also tells teen that "She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that's what she did" (127). This helps Scout realize that Mrs..Dubos was more than a woman who yelled out inappropriate comments to her and Gem every day, she wanted to keep her pride and die with it.
Scout was also very into thinking that Boo Raddled was a terrible monster of a man. She has never seen him in person, but all the stories Gem had told her made her believe that he was too scary to even think about. Gem explains Boo Raddled to Scout by saying: he's 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 bloodstained-if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off.There was a long Jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time. (14) With a description like that, Scout thought that Boo Raddled was the scariest man alive. Scout didn't know any better at the time than to believe whatever she heard about him from others.
When Scout finds gum in the knothole of the oak tree near the Raddled house, she starts to think that maybe Boo isn't so bad. When he saves Gem and Scout from Bob Lowell, they realize that Boo actually cares about them and wants to keep them safe.Scout and Gem always believed Boo to be evil, when he is actually a good-hearted human being. At the close of the novel, Scout talks about Boo to Tactics, saying that "he was real nice" (323). Scout learns that people are not always what they seem to be at first, and there is always something good underneath every harsh surface. Scout always talked about but never understood why people were Judging everybody else, whether it be by race, or money, or Just plain looks.
Tactics explains to Scout that "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" (33). At the beginning of the novel, Miss Maude is Judged by most of the town because of her unconventional ways. She supports and respects everybody, no matter their skin color or age.
She stood up to Aunt Alexandra and defended Tactics by explaining that there are people who support him, them being "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 l" (271).Miss Maude anted to make a point to Aunt Alexandra that colored people aren't bad, and there are other people in town who believe that. Even though she is Judged for having different views, she is not the only one who thinks like that. Arthur "Boo" Raddled is also Judged for being different.
The kids try to see him and contact him a number of times, but they never succeed until he comes out to save them. Everybody considered Boo an outcast because he never left the house, but as Miss Maude put it, "Westbound you stay in the house if you didn't want to come out? " (49).By saying that, she's eloping Scout realize that it's easier for Boo to stay away from people who only Judge him without knowing him. Scout learns by the end of the story to get to know someone and realize all that they've been through before Judging them.
She figures out how to treat people with respect and to be good and proper to people she does not know yet. Throughout the novel, Scout learned lessons about her town, the people in her town, Ana now to not Judge people you don't Know. All ten lessons seen learned In ten novel were lessons that most children would have to learn eventually.Certain details could change, but the main idea of each lesson would be the same.
Life experiences help Scout grow as a human being, and as she gets older she will learn even more. She will learn new things all the time throughout her life, but the experiences she went through involving Boo Raddled, the trial, and all her neighbors, helped her become older and more mature at a younger age. Even though Aunt Alexandra says she needs to wear a dress to be a young lady, she is already more of a young lady in slacks with better manners and a love for adventure that will take her anywhere she wants.
