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Theme Of Judgement In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Theme Of Judgement In To Kill A Mockingbird
The only way a person is able to appropriately judge someone, is if they put themselves in their shoes first. Even in the beginning of the book, Harper Lee addresses the judgement that everyone passes to each other. When Scout attends school, she automatically dislikes her teacher when she tells Scout that Atticus can’t read to her anymore. After relaying this to Atticus, he say, “ … if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You will 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 39). By having Atticus give this advice to Scout, Lee foreshadows coming events that Scout will need to use this information. …show more content…
Later in the book Scout and Jem go back to Atticus’s advice in order to understand Boo Radley. After the Tom Robinson case was finished, Scout and Jem were talking with each other about what they thought of the people on his jury. Before now, both of them had always assumed Boo Radley was just a scary person who never came out. When talking, Jem said, “ Scout, I’m beginning to understand …show more content…
By putting themselves in Boo’s shoes, they realized that because of everything going on, including the case and everyone’s negative outlook on it, he might not want to come out in fear of that negative outlook also applying to him. As Scout grows older she begins to understand more about the people she is around and different things going on around her. After learning that Tom was dead Scout, Aunt Alexandra,and Miss Maudie had to act like they didn’t know anything about it and go on with the ladies of the town. After seeing how Aunt Alexandra reacts, Scout thinks, “ I saw her head go up as she went through the door… after all if aunty can be a lady at a time like this, so can I” (Lee 318). Throughout the book, we get the impression that Aunt Alexandra is just as judgemental as everyone else. Here we learn when Scout uses Atticus’s advice, that all along she was just worried about Atticus. After learning this information about Tom Robinson, she was upset just like Atticus and Miss Maudie, and by putting herself in Aunt Alexandra’s shoes, Scout realizes there was a reason for everything she

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