To Kill a Mockingbird
Generally speaking, humans need to couch themselves in others shoes in order to observe life from another point of view. In the best-seller, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how the main character, Scout, comes to comprehend life by overcoming perplexing and fresh circumstances, while observing the world through her father’s virtuous eyes. Although it takes time for Scout to mature, she eventually comes to understand what real courage and what human equality really is through the perception of a just person. Scout realizes the true meaning of audacity by witnessing her father, Atticus, and his acts of courage. Atticus goes against society and his family by putting his life in jeopardy along with consenting to bolster a black man, Tom Robinson. When asked by Scout if he endorsed “niggers” (75), he responded that he is “simply defending a negro” (75), when the majority of Maycomb County think that he “shouldn’t do much about defending this man” (75). Society believes that a white man’s word over-rules that of a black man’s.