Preview

True Educations Begins at Home

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
428 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
True Educations Begins at Home
People learn everything they know from some sort of influence. Religious groups are influenced by preachers to believe what they want. Students are influenced by teachers on what to learn. North Koreans are influenced by Kim Jong Il to do exactly as he wants. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s only book, Scout, a main female character has to be taught the hard way. She sees a man prosecuted and killed because of his skin color for something he clearly could not have done. She learns that prejudice is abused every day, even past times of slavery. Scout’s main motivation for not being prejudice is her father, Atticus, who defends the black man, Tom Robinson, in a clearly biased trial. Although influenced to think that she should hate black people, her true education comes from home.
When one first learns to speak, who are their words learned from? They, typically, learn from their parents. If someone acts poorly, they are usually punished at home. Outer influences can affect someone’s decision to do something wrong, and, if brought up well, this person will not make these poor decisions. Scout is enticed to hate black people, but Atticus teaches her why humans are all equal. Jem, Scout’s older brother, learns as he matures that one should accept people for who they are. After Tom gets accused of being guilty, Jem even cries. In essence, Jem and Scout are both taught from home how to act throughout life.
When Scout begins talking to Miss Maudie and Dill, she hears wild stories of the man who is locked inside his house for fifteen years, and once he is in his thirties, he attacks his father with a pair of scissors. This man is Arthur “Boo” Radley. Atticus catches his children and Dill trying to lure him out of the house and teaches them that not everything they hear is true (although, this rumor is true.) The children quit provoking Boo for a while, but near the end of the book, they meet him on person after he saves their lives from a drunken man. They learn

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley Analysis

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Jem is drawn to Boo’s story, which he has heard all of his life. Townsfolk tell stories of Boo coming out at night and peeping through peoples’ windows, freezing their azaleas by breathing on them, and terrorizing household pets. When Atticus refuses to give Jem details about the Radleys, Jem turns to Miss Stephanie Crawford, the neighborhood gossip. She talks about Boo saying she “woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley Journal

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Boo was locked up in the bottom of the courthouse for awhile because of this but after he came home no one ever saw him. Another reason the kids will never see him are the kids are too scared of him. Jem and Scout claim that there is a malevolent phantom living in the house otherwise known as Boo Radley. Apparently, one time Miss Stephanie Crawford woke up in the middle of the night and saw Boo Radley looking directly toward her through his window. Jem adds that Boo was scratching at their back screen late at night but was gone way before Atticus could catch him. Jem told Dill if he knocked on the Radley’s door he would definitely wind up dead. This started a chain of events where Dill dared Jem to go knock claiming that Jem was scared. Of course Jem wanted to prove to Dill he wasn’t scared of Boo Radley so, he ran through the yard slapped the house and came running back even faster. After he ran through the yard and back Scout and Dill followed right at his heels back home. They all were afraid of getting caught by Boo Radley so they ran all the way home. Jem, Scout, and Dill made…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley symbolises a beautiful, but tortured mockingbird that is misunderstood and ostracised by both his family and the wider community. He is kept as a prisoner in his own home, kept in confinement by his god-fearing Baptist family. Despite this treatment Boo remains gentle and harmless. However, people tell stories about how he eats squirrels and cats and poisons the pecan nuts in the school yard. To the community Boo is a "malevolent phantom". Gradually Scout and Jem begin to see things from Boo's perspective. Like the mockingbird Boo gives pleasure and comfort: for example, the gifts in the tree, the blanket placed around their shoulders as they watch Miss Maudie's home go up in flames. Finally, he saves Scout and Jem's lives. In turn, Scout realises to drag Boo into the limelight would be like "shootin' a mockingbird" and a cruel betrayal of all the inherent goodness Boo symbolises as a mockingbird.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Long term isolation and Boo’s reclusive personality causes him to have no friends. Boo tries to reach out to the children by leaving them gifts in the knothole of a tree for them to discover. Obviously, Boo treasures the gifts a lot. Even though 2 Indian-head pennies are worth a fortune, he is still willing to give them to the children because he wants them to be fascinated by the gifts just as he does. Boo shows kindness to the children when Jem and Scout are watching Miss Maudie’s house go up in flames. As mentioned in the story, “'Thank who?' I (Scout) asked. 'Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you.'” Boo is courageous and protective, he saves Jem and Scout from being killed by Bob Ewell. Above incidents proves Boo Radley, after all, is not a harmful person described by Maycomb people, in fact he is caring and…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley Realization

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For a majority of the book Scout was told Boo Radley was a crazy, antisocial, outcast, through the rumors spread around Maycomb. Scout did not know anything else about Boo, so she did not think twice about it. One of the stories Scout heard was about how Boo Radley “drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities" (Lee 13). This story contributed to the idea that Boo was crazy. Everybody thought he was heartless and was willing to kill his own parents. Everyone in Maycomb had…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Perspective - TKAM

    • 394 Words
    • 1 Page

    At the end of the book, Scout escorts Boo Radley back to his home. After Boo closes the door, she turns around and surveys the neighborhood from his perspective. She imagines how he has witnessed all the happenings of the recent years, including her and Jem running by the house on their way to and from school, her childhood Boo Radley games, Miss Maudie's fire, the incident…

    • 394 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the mockingbird has come to symbolize many people, especially Tom Robinson and Arthur (Boo) Radley. Although they are often blamed for the misfortunes of others, both Arthur and Tom only intend well for the community and have made efforts to contribute to the well-being of others. Although he is feared by many children and adults in the town he has done many good things for the finches. He continually gave gifts to the children through the hole in a tree, with his brother later filled in with cement. When Miss Maudie's house catches on fire, Boo makes an appearance and wraps a blanket around Scout's shoulders. The Finch children are surprised that Boo ventures from his home, but are thankful that he did,…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All through the book, Scout, her brother, Jem, and their friend, Dill rack their brains, trying to understand why Boo doesn’t leave his house. After walking Boo home, Scout begins to look back on past events, but this time, from the Radley’s home. “I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle” Simply from this, Scout was able to imagine the world from Boo’s perspective. From meeting Dill to having their hearts broken by the Tom Robinson trial verdict, Boo had been watching. Scout begins to understand what Dill had meant long before, when he proposed that perhaps Boo stayed at home because he wanted to. From his home, he could watch over Scout and Jem, and for that, Scout was…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Atticus Role Model

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Can a small, innocent child be able to develop its own set of values and beliefs and break free from what their society thinks? In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character and narrator, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, learns that the majority of people in Maycomb County, Alabama have the same beliefs. They believe that black people are inferior, dishonest, and unimportant in society. Luckily, Scout and her brother, Jem, have their father, Atticus, to look up to as a role model. Atticus does not follow the common stereotypes of Maycomb. He believes all men are created equal. The one moment in the novel that really distinguishes the Finch family’s beliefs from others is when Atticus agrees to represent Tom Robinson, a black man,…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The mysterious neighbor to them, never seen but always there watching. When they first introduced Boo, they feared him until they became to ridicule what they did not know. Scout and Jems maturation process is facilitated by how they handle and overcome their fear of Boo Radley, the towns “boogey man”. When Miss Maudie’s house flamed up Scout and Jem stood by the Radley fence, throughout the night someone came and covered Scouts back with a blanket; it was Boo Radley. That was the first night that Jem started to realize Boo is as pure as a mockingbird, just misunderstood. In the conversation- “Mr. Tate was right…’what do you mean?… 'Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?'" (Scout, p.276) took place, it showed insight to a deeper level of thinking that the kids had developed- metaphoric understanding. Jem knew they were wrong about Boo when Boo had stitched up his pants leaving them on the fence for Jem to find and when he did, he cried an emotional silent cry of remorse for they had contributed to the ridicule Boo endured. With this new understanding in chapter twenty three Jem enlightens Scout why Boo doesn’t leave his house; he doesn’t want to, it’s a confusing corrupt world he’d rather not live in. In a way Boo had taught Scout how to empathize with people. As she was escorted by him to his porch she stood there with tears filling her eyes for the man who saved their lives. Empathetic as she gazed the yard “in his shoes” watching memories from the past three…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lastly, Boo Radley also shows maturity in To Kill A Mockingbird several ways Arthur "Boo" Radley is Maycomb's town loner. Myths and bits of gossip about Boo and his family flourish. As per town gossip, Boo wounded his dad in the leg when he was a kid and has since been confined to his home. Jem and Scout imagine Boo as a ghoulish figure who eats cats and stalks about the neighbourhood under the cover of night. Truth be told, Boo remains as a figure of honesty who becomes a close acquaintence with and protects the youngsters in his own particular…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is one lesson where he mostly lets them learn through real world experience. When Jem questions how the jury found Tom Robinson guilty when he so clearly was not, Atticus says, "As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash" (295). Racism is a main theme in this book. It is a court case in which there is a black man verses a white man. This is one of the few times where Atticus tells them there is a right and a wrong, and racism is wrong. Jem realizes this and cannot understand why the verdict came back guilty. Atticus explains that some people just can't get past race and realize that we are all the same species and we are equal. They are wrong, but that's just how it is. Scout and Jem learn this through the town and just have to accept it even though they do not fully comprehend it. Jem thinks that the jury made the verdict quick, but Atticus corrects him, " No it didn't ... That was the one thing that made me think, well, this maybe the shadow of a beginning. That jury took a few hours. An inevitable verdict, maybe, but it usually takes 'em just a few minutes" (297). Atticus may have even taught the town a few lessons with his arguments in court. The verdict took a long time, that…

    • 1415 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout finally starts third grade, where she has become much wiser. She and Jem stop bothering the Radley residence as they empathize them, understanding what a nuisance it is to have children constantly trying to get Boo to come out, “I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse, when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley—what reasonable recluse wants children peeping through his shutters, delivering greetings on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards at night” (324). Scout finally understands from Boo’s perspective that it is bothersome to have children trying to get him come out even though he does not want to and has done nothing to them. She realizes that if she was in Boo’s shoes, she would not want to have children constantly bothering her. After Boo saves Scout and Jem, Scout walks him back to his house. Standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines the events of the novel from Boo Radley’s perspective. He watches through the windows and can see everything, looking over his “children”, Scout and Jem. Scout refers to her and Jem as Boo Radley’s children because the entire time, Boo has been watching over them as if they were his own children, only coming out of his…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychologists have put forward different explanations of attachment, such as learning theory and Bowlby’s theory.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the course of your life, there are people who you look up to that teach you right from wrong, guide your beliefs, and open up your mind to what is important. In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, there are three individuals that contribute to the development of Jem and Scout’s morality and life values. Atticus, Boo Radley, and Aunt Alexandra are three influential people in the novel that shape who Jem and Scout will become. Atticus teaches Jem and Scout accepted behavior in society. Similarly, he educates them about tolerance. Also, the children learn to respect their elders through their father’s interactions with Maycomb and others.…

    • 1358 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays