Since To Kill a Mockingbird is a literary bildungsroman, lessons about life are required in order for the protagonist to pass the rite of passage from innocence to experience and knowledge. Scout receives lessons about life around every corner and in every chapter it seems. She even gets lessons she doesn't want to learn. For example, she certainly doesn't want to learn from Aunt Alexandra and Jem that she is a girl and shouldn't act or dress like boys. In order for her to grow up properly, however, she needed to learn how to be a girl eventually. This is one brief example of what Scout needs to learn, but there are a few more deeper lessons about family and friends that she also learns that help her to grow to lead a more rounded adult life.
First, one recurring theme that teaches Scout about interacting with neighbors, friends and family has to do with looking at life from another person's perspective. Atticus says it the following way:
"First of all. . . if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. 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" (30).
This lesson about striving to understand others' points of view resurfaces on the night the lynch mob goes to the jail for Tom Robinson. Atticus tells Scout that she made Walter Cunningham view the world by standing in her shoes for a few minutes while she was talking to him about his son and being his friend (157). If we all did this in our families and with our friends we would all be better off and experience less fighting in our lives.
Another very popular lesson about friends and family has to do with the title of the book itself. After Atticus tells the kids it's a sin to kill mockingbirds, Miss Maudie explains the following:
"Your father's right. . . Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" (90).
The mockingbirds are symbols of innocent people from the Boo Radleys of the world to the children like Scout. So many people are judged harshly on misinformation or the lack of facts and Scout learns how true this is during the trial of Tom Robinson and after Boo saves her life from Bob Ewell. It is ironic that the most innocent people are those, like mockingbirds, who are misjudged by the world.
Another lesson about family that might not be as clear as the above-mentioned citations is that family takes care of each other. Each person in the Finch family, including Calpurnia, looks after the other's safety. Jem and Scout rush to their father's side to protect him when he sits outside of the jail to protect Tom Robinson (152-153). Aunt Alexandra even moves in with them in order to protect the children from growing up like hooligans.
Finally, the Finches are also quick to say it's not time to worry so they can comfort one another or approach the drama in their lives with calm intelligence. The following page numbers has one Finch telling someone or each other not to worry, or "it's not time to worry, yet": 62, 70, 134, 137, 143, 154, 213, and 219. There may be even more times mentioned in the book not to worry, but when a phrase is repeated so many times, it's definitely something to notice. If a person can remain calm and deal with family and friends in a calm, rational, and intelligent way, she or he can gain respect and friendship anywhere.
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