Importance of Perspective in To Kill A Mockingbird Free Essay Sample

The phrase one doesn't understand a man until they walk in his shoes or any variation of that phrase mentioned often. Although, people do not entirely know what it means. In Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Atticus Finch Told Scout Finch that “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them”( 374). To stand in someone’s shoes and walk around in them means to understand how they do and why, or how they think, or even how they view themselves to obtain a better understanding of the person. To truly understand someone one needs to think and feel in the same way that they do.

To see the world from one’s perspective can have a literal meaning such as looking at a place from their point of view. Which Scout learned when she escorted Arther Radly back to his house in the end of the book, “I had never seen the neighborhood from this angle…summer, and he watches his children’s heart break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him”( 373-374). After scout escorts Boo( Arther) Radly home, she looks at the neighborhood from the window that Boo had watched them grow up through. Looking from the window helped Scout understand why Arther had helped them and she referenced herself, Dill, and Jem Finch as Boo’s children as if he would be their father. The reason for this being Boo Radley’s presence while they grew up and watching how they change as they grow up as if he could be a parent of theirs.

Second, understanding the thought process behind people’s actions is another way that one can see another’s perspective. After Atticus took a case defending Tom Robinson the people of the town showed hatred towards him for defending a person of color, which would also affect his children. After Scout had gotten up in the middle of the night to grab water, she heard Atticus and Uncle Jack talking then started eavesdropping when Jack told Atticus to just drop the case and Atticus replies “Right. But do you think I could face my children otherwise? You know what’s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness…”( 117). Jack knew that if Atticus didn’t defend Tom that Tom would be heading to the electric chair due to it being a white man’s word against a black man’s word. Plus the court convicted Tom Robinson with capital felony of rape. Atticus knowing this couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t even try to win as he felt that he would be dooming a man who had been through many tough times in his life. After the conversation Atticus told Scout to head up stairs and sleep even though she could not be seen, telling her that he wanted her to hear that part so that she could understand his point of view. After Scout had started a fight with Francis Finch Uncle Jack had hit her as a consequence. As Scout explained to him about why the fight began Scout had explained why she started the fight and said that Francis calls Atticus something that Scout had not yet understood but in a way that sounded like an insult. At night while Uncle Jack and Atticus were talking, Uncle Jack stated ”I shall never marry, Atticus…I might have children”( 115). Uncle Jack doesn’t want to have children because he hit Scout without ever listening to Scout’s perspective of why the fight started. He is afraid that if he ever has children he would fail to see their perspective before taking his action and regret it later as he had done with the fight between Francis and Scout.

Third, understanding one’s thought process or the way that they think can also lead you to better understanding someone or their actions. On one of Scout’s first days of school the teacher Miss Caroline had asked Walkter Cunningham why he had no lunch and why he wouldn’t accept the quarter that she had offered him. So, Scout stood up trying to explain “Walter’s one of those Cunninghams, Miss Caroline”( 26). Scout, already understanding that Cunninghams never took anything that they couldn’t pay back and that they were poor, thought that she had explained the situation clearly. But, Miss Caroline didn’t understand what everyone else did until Scout clarified “...The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t pay back—no church baskets”( 26). Scout is helping Miss Caroline understand the situation from everyone else’s point of view by explaining what she had meant after understanding that Miss Caroline did not understand what Scout had said. Miss Caroline understood after Scout had explained but acted embarrassed at not knowing what others knew as common knowledge. Another example is during Tom Robinson’s trial while being questioned on stand Tom was asked why he had run when Robert Ewell showed up and he replied “Like I says before, it weren’t safe for any… to be in a fix like that”( 265). Tom explaining to the courtroom the situation that he had been in when Mr. Ewell walked back to his house and saw Mayella Ewell hugging Tom was dangerous for any man, but even more so for a black man at the time. The people who wanted to listen understood his perspective on why he ran and why that situation could never have a positive outcome for him due to the color of his skin and the action .

People say that to understand someone you need to walk around in their shoes, but that can have a wide variety of meanings as shown in Harper Lee’s book To Kill A Mockingbird. These examples of understanding one’s perspective help you view the world from a different perspective as if a different person altogether. Seeing one's perspective can mean literally. For example, seeing objects from the same angle as someone to notice something you had not noticed before. Or it could mean to understand one’s thought process which could change your perception of past, present, and future events and even help with self reflection. Lastly, It can mean to accept and understand someone’s side of a story to understand their point of view on what happened or why it happened in the way that it did.  Understanding another person’s perspective is not always an easy task due to one thinking that the world only happens the way they view it. Like racial clashes, understanding of certain peoples, and vision of a neighborhood.