How to Kill a Mockingbird Is Relevant Today

...

result in ruining people’s chances at a good life, just like the African American people in the book, who as a community live near the dump and are subjected to continuous cruelty and mistreatment by others in the town.

The third lesson that To Kill a Mockingbird teaches readers is that maturity comes through learning moral lessons, like how to be empathetical and what true courage is.

Mockingbird addresses the importance of empathy through Atticus teaching Scout how to be empathetical, firstly when she is rude to Walter Cunningham, the son of a poor farming family, by telling her “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” The technique used here is the metaphor of ‘climbing into someone else’s skin’, which shows how someone can use empathy to get a better understanding of the life of somebody else, by trying to imagine what that person would think of something and what emotions it would trigger. This metaphor resonates with readers because it reminds readers of the importance of being empathetic and explains empathy in terms that are easy to understand and imagine. This is an effective way of teaching readers how empathy plays an important role in maturing, because being able to understand others through empathy is a mature way to develop opinions about the world and other people, as it allows you to create opinions with an open mind.

Mockingbird teaches readers what true courage is through the character of Mrs Dubose. Mrs Dubose is an old woman who constantly hurls insults at Jem and Scout whenever she sees them. Eventually, she dies, and Atticus tells Jem and Scout that she was addicted to morphine, but vowed she would break the addiction by the time she died, which she did, and because of this she was the bravest person he ever knew. Jem is surprised, asking why he thinks this after all the negative things she said. Atticus tells 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.” The gentle tone Atticus uses helps the quote resonate with the reader, and the quote explains what real courage is - that you give something your best shot, even when you know you’re not going to win right from the beginning.

To Kill a Mockingbird teaches readers three main lessons - that justice is a human right that everybody is entitled to, that prejudices are harmful and morally wrong, and that maturity comes through learning moral lessons like empathy and what true courage is. The novel does this very thoroughly through irony, first-person narration, contrast, metaphors and language tone. These lessons are applicable to all people in any society and are important in any era, because they address issues that are fundamental to human nature and will always exist. This makes the novel valued today and will continue to make it valued for generations to come.