SPES Paragraph For To Kill a Mockingbird Question 4

Throughout the novel we follow the story of a young woman named Scout who lived in
Maycomb County. As the novel progresses we learn more and more about life in Maycomb and
how it changed Scout. One way in which Scout changed from the start of the novel to the end is
how she views and evaluates people. At first she sees people and views them based on the
way they act. An example of this could be Boo Radley, “Inside the house lived a malevolent
phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at
night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold
snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in
Maycomb were his work.”(Lee, Ch.1) The text after this goes on to tell the reader various
stories told by the townsfolk which ultimately shapes Scout’s image of Boo Radley. She thinks
of him and even the house he lived in as terrifying and ominous and continued to view him this
way for chapters to come. It's only when strange gifts begin to appear in the knot hole of a tree
which they believe came from Boo himself and begin to ease up. It’s at the end of the book
when she truely gets to see what Boo was like and why he lived the way he did. “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.”(Lee, Ch.31) Above this quote
we learn that from the Radley house Boo observed and watched over the children as if they
were his own and came to their aid when they needed him most. With that Scout finally
understands the true meaning of Atticus’s advice that, “you never really know a man until you
stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” (Lee, Ch.31) In the end Scout realizes Boo was
nothing like the stories made him out to be and finds that he was like any other man. Lessons
like this are the real reasons that Scout changed her system of evaluation and now views
people on a deeper level. In conclusion when comparing quotes from the beginning of the book
to the end we can see how much more mature Scout really is when it comes to not viewing
someone based on looks, expressions, and social status, but to take a look into their lives and
evaluate them based on that.