How to Kill a Mocking Bird – Reflection Essay

The title of this novel is “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. The novel takes place between 1933-1935 during the great depression in Maycomb, Alabama. “To Kill A Mockingbird” is about a family growing up together and discovering new talents and different views in each other as they go through emotional and stressful events that occur in their early lives. Jem is the older brother of Scout (Jean-Louise), being the older brother; he has a certain responsibility that teaches him about caring and love as he goes through certain events. Scout being the youngest looks up to her spouses specially her dad Atticus which whom she endures the most. Being guided by her older spouses she learns important lessons that will teach her long-term lessons. Jem and Scout grow up in this novel and find meaning and identity through the events in their lives. One thing that Jem learns what real courage is. One thing that Scouts realizes are different points of view and diversity. As they grow up they find meaning and identity thought the events in their lives.

One of the important things Jem learns is “real” courage. The most important event was when the mad dog was coming up the street and the whole town was scared and somebody had to shoot it before it got to close. So Atticus stepped up to the challenge and shot the dog at far distance with one shot. Jem was amazed; at that point that was his definition of real courage. But Atticus did not want Jem to think that real courage was defined by a man’s gun but rather Mrs. Dubose. Atticus told Jem that Mrs. Dubose had real courage because she stopped takeing her painkillers just to be sin free.

That whole time while she was alive she was suffering and in pain fighting the pain because she knew it would be a sin to take the drug. Here’s a quote from the novel where Atticus explains to Jem, ” I wanted you 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 know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety eight pounds of her. According to her views, she dies beholding to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” page (chapter11, page112)

One of the important things Scout learns is to understand people’s views and how to understand people. One good event is after her school’s Halloween pageant Scout and Jem where attacked and Boo Radley came to the rescue. That was the first time Scout or Jem had seen Boo Radley. Scout walked Boo on his request. When Scout and Boo reach his house, she looks at the neighborhood from in front of one of Boo’s windows, because she has never seen it from this angle, and realizes her father was right when he said, “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them,”(chapter 31, page 279). It is then that Scout finally understands the importance of seeing things from someone else’s point of view; without it, one is closed-minded to so much in life.

Jem and Scout both learn a lot about real courage and points of view. To them that is probably the most important lessons in life to learn from. Without courage or different points of view it would be very hard to survive in world with so much diversities.

In this book Jem and Scout fined meaning and identity through their experiences. They both learned a lot to gather about courage and points of view. With their new learning’s and lesson they will be able to change with everyone’s diversity that lives today. In this time especially courage and points of view are viewed very importantly in the present future. Not only the lessons taught Scout and Jem I am sure it taught all of us a little lesson in true courage and points of view.