On Scout's first day of school, she tries to explain to the new-to-Maycomb teacher, Miss Caroline, that Walter Cunningham could not afford lunch. Scout, however did not make it clear enough, when she said, “Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham.” (20) Miss Caroline punished Scout for “Starting off on the wrong foot.” (21) This made her mad at Walter and she tried to beat him up. Jem broke it up and invited him to dinner. When Scout kept making unnecessary remarks about Walter, Calpurnia scolded her. Over time, Scout came to understand what Walter was really like and she shows that when she tells Mr. Cunningham, “I go to school with Walter… he's in my grade… and he does right well. He's a good boy… a real nice boy.” (153-154) The experience of learning to understand and not judge Walter prepares her to understand and not judge Boo.

When the book starts out, Scout thinks Calpurnia doesn't care about her, because, “She was always ordering [her] out of the kitchen, asking [her] why [she] couldn't behave… and [she] had felt her tyrannical presence as long as [she] could remember.” (6) As Scout grows up and matures, she realizes that Calpurnia just wanted what was best for her. Scout begins to want to spend more time with Calpurnia, when she asks, “Cal, can I come to see you sometimes?” Scout visited Calpurnia's house and church, and asked to go back. Scout had to grow up in order to understand Calpurnia, just as she had to grow up to understand Boo Radley.

Scout, along with most of Maycomb, was frightened of Boo at first, but as the book progresses, she becomes fascinated with him. At first, she judged him, just as she judged Walter Cunningham. When she learned not to judge Walter for being poor, Scout learns to judge Boo less about staying inside and all the rumors. As she matures, Scout also realizes she should not jump to conclusions about why someone does something. Scout assumed Calpurnia yelled at her, because she hated her, when it was really done out of love. Scout learns she cannot assume Boo is crazy, because of everything she has heard about him. After this, Scout realizes that, “The Radley Place had ceased to terrify” (24) her. Scout understands Boo when she chooses a chair for him, “Boo would feel more comfortable in the dark.” (272) Scout realizes she is sad for not giving back to Boo, when he gave her so much. In reality, she did give him something, friendship.

The experiences that Scout went through equipped her with the knowledge to befriend Boo. From Walter Cunningham, just a poor young boy, she learned not to judge people without getting to know them. And from Calpurnia, a strict black woman, Scout learned understanding comes with maturity. These experiences helped her not to judge, how to understand, and even befriend Boo Radley.

In this book, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are both mockingbirds. Sardonically, both of them have disabilities and are different because one of them is shot and one of them has to kill. They are both convicted of something they are not; one of them is regarded as “monster” and the other as “rapist.” Tom's life ends when a white woman accuses him of rape while Boo is a recluse who wants to stay inside. Tom is a black man and Boo is white. They are questionable characters but nevertheless, their true innocence comes together when their parts played in the book's end.

Tom Robinson is the mockingbird throughout the entire trial. He was an innocent man but died when “[Mayella] opened her mouth and screamed.” He empathize Mayella, saying that “I felt right sorry for her…” Tom was an honest, sympathetic, and caring Negro who is incapable of defending himself and liable to be victimized. He is a mockingbird because this compassionate caring Tom holds shows that he has nothing to hide and is not guilty, yet, he is falsely accused of wrong doing due to racial injustice no matter how persuasively Atticus defended him. When Mayella Ewell makes the charge of rape, Tom's judgment comes not from the facts, but the stereotypes that clouded every jury member and every citizen of the town. They do not take the time to understand Tom, but fear and hate him unfairly. Tom, like a mockingbird, is frightened and desperate, trying to break away and escape from prison, but yet, he is shot to death by guards. People of Maycomb are aware of Tom's death at the end of the book when Heck Tate remarks “A black boy is dead for no reason.” His death is the embodiment of innocence destroyed by carelessness or deliberation, and he is a victim of racial injustice.

In the book, Tom has to confront Mayella who is “a steady-eyed cat with a twitchy tail.” Cats hunt birds, which is highly ironic because that Tom is a mockingbird that is trying to make Mayella's life easier. Nevertheless, Tom's life was cut short by her accusation of rape.

Boo Radley is another mockingbird with different traits from that of Tom. His childhood was ruined by his cruel father and personality is twisted by the early life experiences. He is locked up in his house for years because he doesn't want to face the world as it is. He is reclusive and introverted, staying away from the town. However, he does not harm anybody other than Bob Ewell when trying to save others' life, and he has a soft spot for children. He drops off gifts in a tree hole where Scout and Jem receive. “He gave [Scout & Jem's] two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies and our lives.” It was at that moment Scout realizes that Boo was a child-lover. When Mrs. Maudie's house burned to the ground and Scout and Jem were standing near Boo's house, it must have been rather cold. So, Boo places a warm and snug blanket around Scout and Jem, to keep them warm. Ironically, Scout is repulsed at the idea and does not take it as a kind move. Nevertheless, this portion of the story shows Boo's more sensitive and caring side of him. Boo is the icon of good that thrives within people. In saving Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell, Boo stands as the ultimate symbol of good vs. evil. The fact that Scout reminds Atticus that revealing Boo to the authorities would “be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird” demonstrates Scout's advanced ability to “climb into [people's] skin and walk around in it.”

Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are humans that help others. Tom comes to the aid of Mayella Ewell and Boo saves the children of Atticus. The difference is that Tom's death resulted in helping Mayella while Boo is left unscathed. These two mockingbirds are important to the town of Maycomb because they represent the good. Tom was acting as the symbol of what would happen if that “good” is killed. Boo, on the other hand, is a small evolving good that is released at the end of the story. Tom is a public person while Boo confines himself to a private life. The idea of two mockingbirds, representing the same idea but different personalities is the idea that Harper Lee wants to have in the book. Originally, she wanted to name the book “Atticus”, but the most important characters were mostly innocent therefore, granting the name of this book, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Had Harper Lee named it differently, the symbol of the mockingbird would be less clearly expressed. “Remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

In Maycomb's community, Lee reveals to us that there are a few “mockingbirds”, with one being the so-called “Boo Radley” or Arthur Radley who is the cruel victim after an innocent prank. According to the neighborhood, Arthur and his friends, in their teens, locked up Maycomb's law officer Mr. Conner in the court's outhouse. Whey they were brought before the magistrate, Arthur's friends were sent to the state industrial school but Arthur was grounded by his father. For a relatively harmless prank, Arthur spent almost his entire life outside of people's sight.

Slowly through time, myths began to circulate around the neighborhood of Arthur's unspeakable deeds: that flowers withered at his sight, he only came out at night and looked into windows. Out of one's natural curiosity and imagination, children like Jem portrayed him to be hideous and violent. The “Boo Radley” was born. However, we soon find out the myth is not true, as Jem and Scout begin to receive gifts of chewing gums, nickels, figurines and pendants from a tree's knothole nearby “the Radley place”. The reader also realizes who the real sadist is when Arthur Radley's elder brother Mr. Nathan fills up the hole to sever the exchange.

Like “Boo Radley”, Maycomb's Dolphus Raymond is another “mockingbird” who is the town's exception when he breaks the “unwritten social code” by marrying a black woman even though he is white. When Dill is aghast at the racism present in the courthouse and at Mr. Gilmer “talking hatefully” at Tom Robinson's case, Mr. Raymond reveals his personal opinion. “If you aren't thin-headed, it makes you sick doesn't it?”(199). The mention of “thin headed” is a reference to the rest of Maycomb's white residents, who are either indifferent or believe racism to be acceptable.

Dolphus Raymond is thus portrayed to be ahead of his time in terms of racial equality. The reader also discovers that instead of the town myth of Dolphus frequently drinking from a whiskey is false as he actually possesses only a coke bottle. He deliberately allows rumors to spread about him as his attitude is then less disturbing to the town and causes him less harassment.

The portrayal of Tom Robinson's situation depicts the social and cultural milieu of Maycomb County. A victim of white supremacy, he is sent to trial under the accusations of raping the eighteen year old Mayella Ewell. Throughout the case, the reader uncovers the real picture: of how lonely Mayella was, Tom's kindly attitude in helping out whenever possible, and the final act out where Mayella had actually grabbed and kissed Tom due to her increasing loneliness. We also realize that Mayella, like many other, becomes ashamed of her actions and finally decides to stand on trial under her father's pressure, who had witnessed the entire incident and beats Mayella brutally.

However, Scout's father Atticus becomes Tom's lawyer and clearly shows through reasoning on hpw Tom isn't guilty. The logic is put to place through a revelation of Mayella's life at home and of her bruises being mostly caused by a left-handed person even though Tom Robinson's left hand was maimed in a cotton-machine accident.

When Tom is declared guilty under the false accusations, he is devoid of hope. Instead of listening to Atticus's suggestion of further appeals, he attempts an escape and is killed. Tom, even though is visibly innocent, becomes another victim of Maycomb's racially prejudiced juries. Instead of being rightfully released, the ancient rule of a black never winning a case against a white is put into motion.

Arthur “Boo” Radley

At first, Scout believed that the mysterious Author “Boo” Radley was an insane man who snuck around at night and looked in people's windows, attacked his parents, and desperately wanted to get out of the house which he had been trapped in all of his life. As Scout grew older and wiser, and due to the influence of father, Atticus, and her brother, Jem, Scout realizes that Mr. Radley doesn't want to escape the house he has spent most of his life in and that he actually couldn't live any other lifestyle for he wouldn't know what to do out in a free world. At one point Scout puts herself in Boo Radley's position and find out how juvenile it had been for her to bother Boo the way that she did.

The Jury in Tom Robinson's shoes

Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The jury, who failed to put themselves in Tom's shoes, convicted him to death even though the only person that should have been prosecuted for doing any damage to Mayella was Bob Ewell. All the evidence pointed to Tom having sexual relations with Mayella but never raping her. At the same time, other townsfolk expressed the ability to put themselves in Tom's shoes. Judge Taylor specifically appointed Atticus as Mr. Robinson's attorney. Mr. Taylor knew Atticus was the only person in Maycomb that stood a chance of actually providing a defense, which had a slight chance of persuading some of the jurors to argue that Tom Robinson was not guilty of rape. Ms. Maudie even told Jem that “…I thought, Atticus Finch won't win, he can't win, but he's the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that.” (216).

The Mob in Atticus' position

Another example of how Harper Lee puts the characters into other people's shoes is when the mob came to kill Tom Robinson. At first, it looked like a violent scuffle was going to breakout, but Scout, not even realizing it, puts the mob in Atticus' position. They could never harm Atticus in front of his own children, especially when the children knew some of the people in the mob. The morning after the mob visited Atticus and threatened the life of Tom Robinson, Atticus described to Jem why no one attacked him that night. He said, “…a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children…you children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough.” (157).

Helen Robinson

Many people are put into Helen Robinson's shoes. After Tom's arrest many people rose to the occasion to help her and her children out. Helen couldn't get a job and with her husband in jail, no money was coming into the family. While visiting Calpurnia's church, Reverend Sykes had a collection for Helen. When the reverend didn't think there was enough money to get her through the week, he closed the doors of the church and said no one was leaving until Helen had enough money to support her family. Slowly but surely, money came in from the church goes and finally everyone was able to leave. Another example is when Link Deas stands up for Helen. First, since her husband died, he hired Helen. Although he didn't need her to work for him he felt it was the right thing to do. Mr. Deas also stands up for Helen. Bob Ewell started following her to work everyday and whispering profanities under his breath to her. When she told Link Deas he yelled at Mr. Ewell saying, “…stay away from my cook or I'll have you up for assault…You don't have to touch her, all you have to do is make her afraid, an' if assault ain't enough to keep you locked up awhile, I'll get you in on the Ladies' Law, so get outa my sight!” (249). From then on, Mr. Ewell never said another word to Mrs. Robinson.

Jem in Bob Ewell's Shoes

After the trial, Bob Ewell spits on Atticus and tells him he's going to get him back for defending Tom. Jem is scared that Bob Ewell is true to his word even though his father is not affected by it and believes that he will not follow through. He told Jem, “Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell's shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does.” (218). Atticus says that Mr. Ewell did what he had to do and if it saved Mayella one beating, he would gladly take it.

Conclusion

Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, uses the motif of putting people in other character's shoes to gain further knowledge on the actions of the characters. This motif is clearly seen in many of the characters including Helen and Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell, Atticus and Scout, and many other people living in Maycomb County. Without this aspect of the story, it would be hard to understand the feelings of individuals and the people living in Maycomb.