“You never really know a man until you consider things from his point of view……. until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 39). Atticus Finch is a character in To Kill a Mockingbird which was written by Harper Lee. The book took place in the 1930s and Atticus works as a lawyer and has two children, Scout and Jem Finch. This is what Atticus had told Scout when she had a bad day at school and she was complaining about Miss Caroline and how she had told Scout that she learned how to read incorrectly. What Atticus means to tell Scout is that you can’t assume what someone’s point of view is like. Everyone’s point of view is different with a lot of factors, which makes us all unique. Some factors that make a person’s point of view different include the treatment of their race, their gender, and their social class. Many characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are misjudged by the narrator until she sees what really happens in Maycomb County.
One thing to consider of when looking at a person’s point of view is their race. Segregation was very common especially in Maycomb County. Where all the African Americans are put into the same stereotype that they are dangerous and rude. “…confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption-the evil assumption-that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.” (Lee 273) This quote shows that the people in Maycomb put all African Americans into one category, violent, dangerous, and scary. There are African Americans who were violent and scary but because of them, society pushes all the African Americans into that description. A character that can be used as an example is Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The whole jury voted against him because of what they assumed Tom Robinson’s point of view was. If he was given a fair chance, he could have been justified and deemed innocent. Another character we see being unfairly misjudged in To Kill a Mockingbird is Dolphus Raymound. Dolphus had married a black woman and because of that society put this label on him, saying that he was an outsider, but in this case, Dolphus pretends to be drunk all the time in order to help society put a reason to why he married a black women, “Some folks don’t like the way I live…I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks which is seldom, if I weave a little a drink out of this, folks can say Dolphus Raymound’s in the clutches of whisky.” (Lee 268) If people had get to know Dolphus, they would know he was pretending and he was a good person. Seeing Dolphus and Tom’s story shows that many people are used to putting a label on people based on their race.
Although race is a big consideration, another consideration to think about when looking at a person’s point of view is gender. In this period both men and women lived with stereotypes. In the book, the reader will identify the stereotypes against women, but only some readers realize that there are stereotypes against men too. When Scout encountered these stereotypes, she replied with, “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches…. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born.” (Lee 108) This quote shows that even the women in society knew what they needed to do to fulfil these stereotypes, it almost was like there was a fine line about what to do, and what not to do. Society sees women as people who stay at home and cook and clean all day, basically, they sit still and look pretty, at least that’s what society expects them to do. Men are also being stereotyped in this book as they are portrayed as the muscle and the power, and they do all the hard stuff. For example, with Dill, one of Scout’s and Jem’s friend in To Kill a Mockingbird. Dill was expected to go play baseball or do something athletic instead of reading a book. Which should not be expected, as gender roles shouldn’t be used to judge others. When looking at the character of Mayella Ewell, she uses her gender to her advantage when going against Tom Robinson. Her being a white woman in the 1940s meant that the jury and society would believe her more than a black man. “Ideally a patrician, privileged white women, she served her husband, bending to him in all matters; she was maternal, bearing children regularly and caring for them lovingly, she possessed great skill in the domestic sphere, running kitchen and nursery, overseeing the household in all areas, dispensing medicine, always hospitable.” (AUTHOR, The Southern Lady and Belle) This piece of evidence found in The Southern Lady and Belle shows a few of the stereotypes that society tried to fit women into.
Finally, a last consideration is your social class. To Kill a Mockingbird took place during the depression era, so social classes had changed a lot around this time. There were three classes, the lower class, the middle class, and the upper class. The lower class consisted of African Americans and a few white families that lived in poverty. For example, society thinks that the Ewells were just white trash, as they lived in a dump and Bob Ewell spent his paycheck buying alcohol. But, like any society, there were exceptions, there were families in the lower class that are genuinely good people, such as the Cunninghams. They were farmers until the Depression hit, which hit them hard. If more people had been like Atticus, who was a good friend with the Cunnighams, they would know that the Cunninghams are good people. Now looking at the opposing side of this, a character that displays the society’s beliefs is Aunt Alexandra. She has many times in the book expressed her opinions on how Finches should only be talking and associating themselves with people of the same class, not lower than them, “Jean Louise, there is no doubt in my mind that they’re good folks. But they’re not our kind of folks.” Aunt Alexandra had told Scout that when Scout was talking about inviting Walter to dinner. This shows that many people are being judged by a factor they sometimes can’t control. As Aunt Alexandra had told Scout she couldn’t invite Walter for dinner because the Finches were a well-respected family and that they should only converse with other well respected families. As this shows both sides of the topic with the Cunninghams and the Ewells, but also with Aunt Alexandra talking about society’s beliefs, society misjudges people because of their social class and because of that many characters in the book weren’t given a chance to prove themselves.
A person’s point of view can’t be assumed by someone else. There are three factors that affect how people view things differently. Some factors that make a person’s point of view different include the treatment of race, gender, and social class. Characters such as Dolphus Raymound, Scout, Dill, and the Cunninghams have been victims for being judged because of these factors. People in society such as Aunt Alexandra who judge people without even meeting or getting to know them. This creates this social divide between people in society, which makes it hard to get others to help those who are divide, as we saw with Tom Robinson. There are factors that determine a person’s point of view and without understanding and recognizing them, a person should not judge another person.
Works Cited
- Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. United States, Grand Central Publishing, 2012.
- Ourselves, Facing History and. “Teaching Mockingbird by Facing History and Ourselves.” Used, New, and Out of Print Books – We Buy and Sell – Powell’s Books, www.powells.com/book/teaching-mockingbird-9781940457079. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.