Examples Of Atticus Lessons In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch, the father of Scout and Jem Finch, teaches his children several valuable lessons throughout the novel. One important lesson in particular—and arguably the most important—is when Atticus teaches 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” (39). Atticus’s lesson is similar to the saying of putting oneself in another’s shoes in order for one to be able to understand his or her argument or opinion better. Atticus decides to teach Scout the lesson after she comes home from school one day. Scout tells Atticus about her feelings toward the first grade and Miss Caroline, the first …show more content…
Consequently, showing that the she understands Atticus’s lesson, Scout realizes that Miss Caroline’s ignorance of the Cunningham’s inability to pay people back with money “was an honest mistake on her part,” and Scout “could not hold her responsible when she knew no better.” Furthermore, Atticus’s lesson is reiterated in the last chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird as Scout stands on the Radley porch and puts herself in Boo’s perspective. By doing this, she recollects events of the current summer and past summers, but this time as if she were Boo Radley. After her flashback, Scout concludes that “Atticus was right” and reminisces about the time Atticus said to her, “...you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (374). In addition, Scout admits that “just standing on the Radley porch was enough” in order for her to be able to truly experience what Boo Radley has seen from behind a window in a lonely