i have to write a paper about one of the 6 traits of TKAM. (compassion/understanding, Religion, Education, Innocence to Maturity, courage, and prejudice). I was leaning towards the trait of education, but i don't really know how to explain how the trait and the character goes together and write a whole essay on it.. any help?
thanks :)
It's probably a little late to be helping now but i don't think education is a very good trait to do. Sure it is shown in the novel but not very much. Other traits in the book such as religion or innocence would relate to the characters much more and you would have a lot more to write about :)
Yes,this is long after the fact, but it's worth discussing.
Education is HUGE in the novel. Formal education is pathetic. Miss Caroline fails as a first grade teacher because she does not understand these Maycomb children. She has not "walked in their shoes," as Atticus tells Scout to do. Jem's views of the Egyptians are far from accurate, suggesting that his own formal education has not been great either.
In contrast, their father and their community teach Jem and Scout and Dill much more than any school ever could. They learn about courage and justice and decency and compassion and rumors and modesty and SO much more. They succeed in coming to understand the world by stepping into others' shoes. At the end, Scout pauses on Radleys' porch to look at the neighborhood from Arthur's point of view; then she concludes that she and Jem didn't have much left to learn, "except possible algebra." One of the best lines in the novel.
