Harper Lee also shows Atticus’s deep understanding of less fortunate members of the community by introducing the character of Boo Radley, a mentally handicapped neighbour. All sorts of wild stories about Boo have developed in Maycomb over the years and Jem and Scout have been profoundly influenced by them and are deeply fearful and fascinated by him. Atticus stops the children from pestering Boo. “What Mr. Radley did was his own business. If he wanted to come out, he would. If he wanted to stay inside free of attentions of inquisitive children … What Mr. Radley did might seem peculiar to us, but it did not seem peculiar to him.” Harper Lee demonstrates that Atticus does not fully understand why Boo behaves the way he does but he is eager to get his children to look at life from Boo’s point of view and to make them consider Boo’s feelings.
Mrs. Dubose (an elderly neighbour, who is also a morphine addict) is very rude about Atticus and the children. Rather than getting annoyed, like Jem and Scout do, he tries to help her as she tries to combat her addiction. He makes Jem go and read to her, which he detests. Although it is difficult for the reader (and Jem and Scout) to like Mrs. Dubose in any way, Atticus rises above the terrible comments she makes, e.g. about him being a “nigger-lover.” Although she is a rather mean and nasty character, Atticus nevertheless understands how courageous she is in trying to combat her morphine addiction before she dies. He also wants Jem to understand her courage despite her cantankerous ways. “I wanted to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what … According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.”
The central event of the book is Atticus’s defence of a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a white girl. Here we are supremely shown how Atticus can not only climb inside one particular person’s skin and walk around in it, i.e. Tom Robinson’s, but how he can climb into the skins of an entire minority group. In defending Tom Robinson he is defending the black community and exposing the injustices perpetrated by white people and their blind prejudice. When asked by Scout why he is defending a Negro, Atticus replies, “For a number of reasons … the main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t tell you or Jem not to do something again.”
Throughout the book Harper Lee brings to our attention how Atticus understands the essence of other human beings. He is particularly generous in his understanding of
Duncan Meadows December 2001
individuals disliked or shunned by most people. Even when the despised Bob Ewell threatens that he will kill Atticus, Atticus encourages Jem to see the world from Mr. Ewell’s point of view. “Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of come back, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I’d rather it be me than a household full of children out there. You understand?”
Scout’s world is brought into conflict with the outside world when she starts school and clashes with her teacher. At the start of the novel she finds it difficult to step inside other peoples shoes. This is shown when she invites Walter Cunningham back for lunch. He pours syrup all over his food. Scout asks, “What the sam hill” he was doing. She then remarks, “He’s gone and drowned his dinner in syrup.” She then pokes fun at him. Scout is egocentric and does not really understand how hurtful her comments might be, even though she is told off for her remarks. However, later on in the book, after the trial, we find Scout defending Walter and his family to Aunt Alexandra. She is particularly upset when Aunt Alexandra refers to Walter as “trash.”
“Walter’s as smart as can be, he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy. Nothin’s wrong with him. Naw Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” This clearly shows a leap in Scout’s understanding of people normally outside her own social circle.
At the beginning of the novel Scout has the same prejudices about black people as the local community. For example she actually asks Atticus if he defends “niggers.” However as the novel progresses, Scout’s attitudes change. Scout punches Francis, her cousin, for calling Atticus a “nigger-lover.” When Calpurnia, the family’s black cook, takes Scout and Jem to her church, Scout develops enormous warmth towards the black community. Symbolically, during Tom Robinson’s trial Jem and Scout sit upstairs in the black balcony. Later on in the novel Scout’s teacher, Miss Gates, teaches her class about the horror of the persecution of the Jews. However, Scout comments on Miss Gates as she comes out of the courthouse and makes racist remarks about black people. “I heard her say it’s time somebody taught ‘em a lesson, they were gettin’ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home.
Harper Lee demonstrates how Scout develops the ability to “step inside someone else’s skin” in her changing attitude to Boo Radley. At the beginning of the novel Scout’s fascination, fear and horror of Boo, is fuelled by Maycomb folklore. As Scout watches Miss Maudie’s house burn down, Boo puts a blanket around her shoulders. She is horrified when she discovers what Boo has done. Here Harper Lee juxtaposes Scout’s sympathetic feelings towards Miss Maudie with her disdainful feelings towards Boo even though he was only being thoughtful towards her. However, by the end of the book we can see the depth of Scout’s understanding of Boo. After Bob Ewell’s attack on Jem and Scout and Boo’s intervention, which saves their lives, Scout’s attitudes have profoundly changed.
Her gentle and sensitive behaviour towards Boo at the end of the novel indicates how well she understands what it must be like to be Boo. Scout comments, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.”
In conclusion, I think that through Atticus and Scout, Harper Lee emphasises the importance of looking at the world from other peoples’ point of view in order to prevent misunderstanding and prejudice. She also emphasises the importance of being tolerant. At the end of the book Scout says, “Atticus, he was real nice.” Atticus replies, “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.”
