Growing up is an experience where we develop throughout life. It requires us to encounter many obstacles along the way which then shapes us to become a better person. In the novel to kill a mockingbird, Scout and jem engages with challenging life lessons, which are explored in an allegorical way and throughout the novel as a whole. The novel displays the characters of Boo Radley who is abused of his past, Mrs Dubose who is supposedly a rude and old lady and PREJUDICE ONE. While Scout is exposed to the human complexity, moral courage and prejudice surrounding these characters, they are eventually seen as being good and Scout’s perception of them changes throughout the novel.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, human complexity is one of the main life lessons which Jem and Scout engaged with. Harper lee displays that humans are either innately evil or innocent, first shown when the kids become intrigued with the Radley house. Arthur Radley who had a nickname through the onomatopoeic sound of ‘Boo’ Radley who was described as an animalistic figure was perceived as an evil ‘’malevolent phantom.’’ This negative connotation reveals how the Maycomb society dehumanises Boo and describes and treats people who are different. As Scout and Jem are innocent kids, they classify boo as being an outsider who doesn’t justify dignity or respect. They have a naïve understanding of good and evil which exists in Maycomb, categorising the society as to being good and Boo to be evil. However, later in the novel, human complexity is further explored when Scout collects his pants that he left at the Radley house. They had been ‘’folded across the fence… like they were expecting me’’, foreshadowing how Boo has been observing the children’s actions. The folded pants demonstrate that he wasn’t just a monster and he was actually a kind-hearted person who cared about others. Jem and Scout realised that Boo was very innocent, and he always stayed in his house because he couldn’t deal with the grief of the outer world. The children didn’t see Boo as a monster anymore and they learnt their lesson to never torment him again. They also learnt to see the world from a different view and not judge a book by its cover.
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Moral courage is a challenging life lesson that Scout and Jem engages with when growing up. In To Kill a Mockingbird, moral courage is thinking and doing the right thing and not just trusting preconceptions. Atticus Finch is an individual who demonstrated great moral courage and he was a huge influence towards Scout and Jem growing up. Courage is revealed when Mrs Dubose starts combating her morphine addiction. When Jem and Scout read to Mrs Dubose each evening and witnessed her fits, they realised one day she had died because she was addicted to morphine. Jem and Scout are taught the meaning and a life lesson of real moral courage through the death of Mrs Dubose, elucidated in the metaphor ‘’I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hands’’ illustrating how courage is when you keep pushing through even when you feel crushed. It isn’t just fighting with a gun and it is defending the things that are right. Mrs Dubose was also seen as the most fearless person that was known, when Atticus states ‘’According to her views, she died beholden to nothing to nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew’’ emphasising how Mrs Dubose is courageous and brave as she is fighting a battle which she knows will result in her loss. It reveals how she had her particular approach towards things and everyone in Maycomb had acknowledged it. Although Mrs Dubose was an honest but rude lady, it taught Jem and Scout a life lesson to always look on other people’s side and to put yourself in their shoes before judging them.
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Challenging Life Lessons in To Kill a Mockingbird: Reflective Essay.
(2022, July 14). Edubirdie. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/challenging-life-lessons-in-to-kill-a-mockingbird-reflective-essay/
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