Point Of View In To Kill A Mockingbird

“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” (Lee 33). That simple quotation has been echoed in many forms before, but always meant the same thing; think about things from the other person’s perspective before you start throwing stones. This is a good rule to help people discern whether someone did something and why a person acts the way they do. Nonetheless, there was once a time when a point of view was irrelevant. Once, people used to make life changing decisions based on the color of someone’s skin. The historical fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee inserts the reader into situations where they have to ask the question: how does
In the book when Scout went to visit some of her family in Finch’s Landing she was talking to her cousin Francis. As they were talking they transitioned to the trial and Francis showed his real views about the trail and Atticus. He said, “Grandma says it’s bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he’s turned out a n****-lover we’ll never be able to walk the street of Maycomb again. He’s runin’ the family, that’s what he’s doin’.” (Lee 94). This quotation shows just how prejudiced some people were back then, it shows how his prejudice is blinding his view. He isn’t worried about whether Tom is innocent or not, not even about Mayella and whether she was raped. He was just worried about the awful act in his eyes of defending a black man because he surely was guilty. This ends up polarizing more than just the town, but even Scouts family. The subsequent point is when the closing arguments have happened for the trail and all that waits it the jury to give a final verdict. Atticus has given a defense that surely would win the case. He proved the witnesses to have lied about things and showed that there is reasonable doubt about what happened that night. But then the jury comes out and gives their decision. Scout said, “Judge Taylor was polling the jury: “Guilty…guilty…guilty…guilty…””(Lee 240). This
Through Scout’s viewpoint of a 1930’s southern town’s journey through an extremely polarizing trial, we see how people used to react to things as simple as the color of your skin. Anyone who is captivated by history, the civil rights movement, how racial tension was in the south, or just reading a book that will always keep you intrigued will enjoy this book. This book would additionally be a great read for anyone of any age and be a great view into the world of the past where the world was equal and people were based on something as basic as the color of your