Education In To Kill A Mockingbird

Words: 528
Pages: 3

Education was an essential in the thirties. Throughout the novel, education contradicted itself in which many people valued it as a standard for the “finer people” (Lee 303), but also those who had the opportunity and did not use it.
In the Harper’s Lee novel To Kill a Mockingbird, he emphasizes learning to be a gift even though it’s confined. Scout knows so much, but can only know so less because she is “too young” (232) or as said from Calpurnia, “It’s not necessary to tell all you know. It’s not lady-like-in the second place, folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do,” (167). Evermore, Miss Caroline wants to have something she can teach her. In fact, Scout says, “Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me anymore, it would interfere with my reading” (Lee 22) making her reprimanded from all outside learning. Surely this did not have an effect on her because she was always being taught something from Aunt Alexandra, Atticus, or even Calpurnia. For example, Aunt Alexandra giving her “feminine influence” (Lee 170) allowing her to uphold the Finch’s name and Atticus reading her big
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During the trial, they realize that racism is alive and well in their town as they hear words such as “nigger” (Lee 241) and “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for” (Lee 135). Miss Gates explained the word “DEMOCRACY” (Lee 328) as Scout said, “Equal rights for all, special privileges for none” (Lee 196) ironically indicating this is the world they live in, although, that does not imply to those like Mr. Tom Robinson. For instance, Scout said, “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when the jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson” (Lee 282); yet the jury had full facts that he was not guilty, but they still tried