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The book To Kill A Mockingbird has taught me many different lessons that can be used throughout life. The lessons include the themes of: the existence of social inequality, innocence and experience, fear and courage, the importance of moral education and the coexistence of goodness and evil.

Coexistence of Good and Evil

  "He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned" (Page 137).

          In this chapter, Jem gets frustrated because Mrs. Dubose constantly scolds Jem and Scout. Jem finally loses it and when Jem was walking home, he cut tops off of Mrs. Dubose's camellias. Jem later realizes this was not the right thing to do; however, when Atticus tells Jem he has to read to Mrs Dubose as a punishment, Jem agrees to the task.

           Here, Harper Lee shows an example of someone making a mistake and then fixing it. Everyone makes mistakes; it is part of everyday life. The lesson here is that as long as people fix the mistakes they make, then they won't feel as guilty.
        

A camellia Jem destroyed. 

" 'Bob Ewell fell on his knife.' "

           In this chapter, Boo Radley save Jem's and Scout's lives. At the beginning of the book, Boo Radley is known as the weird and crazy kid who eats squirrels and stabs people. By the end of this book, Harper Lee shows the real, gentle side to Boo Radley, which contrasts not the evil side everyone assumes is there.  Because Boo did not do anything wrong, Atticus does not want to cause trouble for him, and therefore said that Bob Ewell fell on his knife (instead of saying Boo Radley killed him to save the lives of Jem and Scout). 

           Harper Lee is trying to teach people that there are many sides to a person and that people can behave unexpectedly. The people of Maycomb thought that Boo was evil because he is different; however, Boo saved lives and now they know the real side of him. 

Moral Education

“Catching Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard gave me some pleasure, but when I was rubbing his nose in the dirt Jem came by and told me to stop” (page 30).

           In this quotation, Jem helps Scout develop her moral education. Walter Cunningham, although quite a bit older than Scout, is about her size (due to malnutrition). Jem understands this, but Scout does not; she only sees someone to pick on. Further down the page, when Jem invites Walter to their house for dinner, he is demonstrating compassion towards Walter. 

         Harper Lee has taught me that moral education can come from a young person, just as well as an older one and that situations are often more complicated than they appear. This quotation is also related to the quote used for Innocence and Experience, because if Scout put herself in Walter Cunningham's skin and walked around in it, she would understand what he is going through and maybe be a little more compassionate towards him. 

       

“ ‘Atticus says cheatin’ a colored man is ten times worse than cheatin’ a white man,’ I muttered. ‘Says its the worst thing you can do’ “ (Page 269).

              Raymond goes on to explain that Atticus is not an average Southern man, which means he is not a racist. Black people at this time in history were much more disadvantaged than white people, which makes taking advantage of them even worse. This quotation taught me that, although to scam someone in general is wrong, it it worse to cheat someone who is clearly underprivileged. I realize that this can also fall under the Existence of Social Inequality, as it is part of a moral education that everyone should know.

            

Fear and Courage

“ ‘Sure that’s all, now? I don’t want you hollerin’ something different the minute I get back.’' (Page 18)

            During this part of the chapter, Dill is trying to convince Jem (who is scared of th house) to run up to the Radley house and touch the wall. Jem has heard stories about the Boo's house, making him scared of what could happen to him if Boo Radley saw him. Dill is trying to make Jem face his fears by going up to the house. Once Jem thinks about it, he decides to go for it. Jem then finds the courage to run up to the house and run back. 

            Harper Lee is showing an example of someone overcoming the fears facing them. The only way to stop being scared is to face the fear. Everyone has fears and one lesson is to get over your fear as soon as you can, because if you don't, then that fear can restrict other things. 

The Radley House; This is the house
many people are frightened by,
 however Jem had the courage to go
up to the house and touch the wall. 

“ ‘There ain’t no need to fear a cootie, ma’am. Ain’t you ever seen one? Now don’t be afraid, you just go back to your desk, and teach us some more’ ” (Page 34)

            During this chapter, Mrs Caroline sees a cootie crawl out of Burris Ewell’s hair. Mrs Caroline points and tells him he is excused to go home and wash his hair. Mrs Caroline is frightened to see something crawl out of his hair; however, Burris Ewell is not at all scared. Burris Ewell must have already been exposed to parasites, which makes him not scared of them.

           Harper Lee shows that not everyone is exposed to the same environment and therefore makes some people afraid of things, while others not. Harper Lee is showing that everyone has different fears because they were raised differently and shouldn't be judged for that. Burris Ewell doesn't understand why Mrs Caroline is scared and he should consider that he was raised differently than she was. 

The Existence of Social Inequality

“Lula stopped, but she said ‘You ain’t got no business bringin white chillun here- they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it Miss Cal’ 

Calpurnia said 'it's the same God, ain't it' ” (Page 158).

             During this time, most public services were segregated; places were either for “the colored” (black) or the “non-colored” (white). Most of the colored people did not accept the non-colored, and the non-colored did not accept the colored. As said in this quote, Lula does not like the fact that Calphurnia brought “white chillun,” Jem and Scout, into a colored church.                     

             This quotation has taught me that racism is not just about whites oppressing blacks; it is about any race making negative assumptions about any other race. In this this example, Lula is being racist towards the children by wanting to exclude them from her religious practice based on the colour of their skin.  

             Harper Lee shows that some people care about which colour others' skin is, while others don't. Harper Lee stated with the words of Calpurnia that race shouldn't matter, because in this case, both parties share the same God. 

This checkerboard represents the people: the
black and the white. The squares are the same
besides the colour, so why should they be treated differently? 

“ ‘It ain’t right, Atticus,’ said Jem. ‘No son, it’s not right’" (284).

             Jem and many others believe that Tom Robinson is innocent; however,  solely because of his race and his accuser is white, he is found guilty. Even though Mayella Ewell doesn’t have a lot of evidence, she still won because she is white and Tom is black. During this time, it was very difficult to be found innocent as a black person if the accuser was white. Juries typically found black people guilty in these cases. 

             This quotation taught me about the great injustices that non-whites have suffered because of racism. I realize there is still a lot of racism today, however, it has definitely improved since the time this book was written in. 

Innocence and Experience

"'First of all,' he said, 'If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. 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'"  (Page 39).

               One lesson that To Kill a Mockingbird has taught me is to consider things from other people’s point of view. There are many times in this novel when characters have been hated or feared; often there is no logical reason for this. One example is that Mrs Caroline doesn’t like the fact that when she starts school, Scout already knows how to read. In chapter 3, page 39, Scout comes home from school and she is upset. She explains to Atticus what’s wrong and Atticus gave her a piece of advice: "'First of all,' he said, 'If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. 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.'" 

               During the first half of the novel, Scout is very innocent and unexperienced. By the end of the novel, however, Scout is much more mature and experienced, partially because Atticus gives her many pieces of wise advice and partially because of the events that happen in her life. The author

 clearly shows the way people can judge others for no reason when, really they shouldn't. She clearly states that you shouldn't judge anyone when you don't know their background. 

               

“..It’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you” (page 144-145).

               This quotation has two meanings to it. 
              
               First, in this quotation, Scout and Atticus are talking about whether Atticus is a “nigger lover” or not. Atticus explains how he tries to love everyone, while also hinting that they should also try loving everyone. He gives some more advice to Scout; a bad name shouldn’t hurt you, it only tells you how those saying it are rude and lacking social graces. Atticus has taught me that when someone calls another person a rude name, it is not a negative reflection of the victim, but rather of the bully. 

               
               Second, Harper Lee illustrates a perfect example of a person not caring about what other people think. Both Scout and Jem don't like the fact that Mrs Dubose calls their dad a "nigger lover," but Atticus tries to teach them that what people say shouldn't matter to them, just like it doesn't bother Atticus.   In both examples, Atticus is modelling the behaviour he wishes to see in his kids.