Quote 2
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.
This important snippet of conversation
from Chapter 3 finds Atticus giving Scout
the crucial piece of moral advice that governs her development for
the rest of the novel. The simple wisdom of Atticus’s words reflects
the uncomplicated manner in which he guides himself by this sole
principle. His ability to relate to his children is manifested in
his restatement of this principle in terms that Scout can understand
(“climb into his skin and walk around in it”). Scout struggles,
with varying degrees of success, to put Atticus’s advice into practice
and to live with sympathy and understanding toward others. At the
end of the book, she succeeds in comprehending Boo Radley’s perspective,
fulfilling Atticus’s advice in Chapter 3 and providing
the novel with an optimistic ending despite the considerable darkness
of the plot.
