Analysis of the Importance of the Moral Voice in To Kill a Mockingbird

In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, we follow the narrator Scout Finch as she shifts from an innocent young girl into an open-minded character. Her growth is guided by her father Atticus Finch, a fifty year old local lawyer who Scout describes as ‘feeble’. Atticus plays the role of the moral voice, which is a substantial factor that contributes to Scout’s gradual development. Through Atticus, Lee endeavours to teach Scout and Jem Finch virtues that are invaluable and stresses the significance of being impartial. Thus it is clear that the most memorable idea of this novel is the importance of the moral voice and how it can impact on the innocent minds of the children.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” was published in 1960 and it reflected on the Civil Rights Movement. Maycomb, the setting of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, is a microcosm of American Society as the Americans were amidst the Great Depression. Also, Martin Luther King referred to this time as being ‘sweltering’ with oppression. Since people at the time were trapped by other people’s opinions and developed a strong system of class hierarchy, very few actually thought about opening their minds so people could live in harmony. The Finch household, being one of the few households that neglects racial standing, did not accept prejudice. This value was held by Calpurnia, a black woman, and also Atticus. As the moral voice of the novel, Atticus demonstrated several meaningful ideas.
One idea Atticus showed is that instead of perceiving people as essentially good or essentially evil, good and evil coexist, and that people actually embody both good and evil traits. Since Atticus understands this idea, he accepts people for who they are instead of criticizing their flaws. Jem Finch, Atticus’s son, demonstrates both good and bad qualities. Jem is a good brother to Scout, as when Scout watched Calpurnia give Jem a ‘hot biscuit and butter which he tore in half and shared with me’. Jem is also very protective as he ‘cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs Dubose owned ‘because Mrs Dubose called Atticus ‘trash’. Despite being sharing and protective, Jem is stubborn and overly curious. For instance, when Atticus told Jem to leave the prison, Jem said ‘I ain’t going’, and the fact that Jem collects gifts from the hole in the tree and his fascination with Boo Radley. Just as Jem enters puberty, he is exposed to Tom Robinson’s trial where he saw that justice didn’t always prevail; this leaves Jem confused and shattered at a critical point of his life. Atticus now tells Scout that Jem simply needs ‘time to process’ what he has learnt. The presence of Atticus made Jem believe that he can recover. Later on in the story Jem realised that there was good in people as Boo aided Jem from the assault by Bob Ewell. Atticus, by instilling justice and the acceptance of reality into Jem, has put Jem on the right path. Without Atticus and thus the guidance of the moral voice, Jem and Scout would both be in disillusionment.
Another idea that Atticus wanted us to understand is that we should appreciate people’s good qualities and understand their bad qualities as everyone has flaws. Atticus treats people with sympathy as he believes that everyone has strengths. Mrs Dubose is a prime example of this because as she appears to be racist and insensitive, but Atticus sees her as ‘the bravest person I ever knew’. One day Mrs Dubose told Jem that Atticus was no better than the ‘niggers and trash he works for’, so Jem lost his temper and destroyed all of her camellia bushes. For punishment, Atticus orders Jem and Scout to go to her house every day for a month and read to her. After enduring Mrs Dubose’s scolding and abuse, Atticus tells Jem that she is addicted to morphine and the reading was an effort to struggle against the addiction. After her death, Atticus gave Jem a white camellia which Mrs Dubose left for him. Jem initially discarded this gift, screaming ‘old hell-devil!’, but Atticus tells Jem that it was her way of saying ‘everything’s alright now’. Harper Lee wanted the white camellia to symbolise the purity of Mrs Dubose’s soul, and through Atticus, she wanted Jem to attribute the essential goodness of portrayed by the camellia to everyone. But Jem doesn’t understand this immediately as he doesn’t believe Mrs Dubose could represent anything good.
The most memorable idea shown by Atticus was that you can never truly understand someone until you see the world from their perspective. This is represented by the resonant dialogue: ‘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’.