Learning lessons is what growing up is all about. In To Kill A Mockingbird many different lessons are learned. What people say about someone isn't always true. Doing something that is right sometimes means sacrificing respect. Just because someone is different on the outside doesn't mean that they are different on the inside as well. In To Kill A Mockingbird the children's early mistakes in judgement, teach them valuable lessons which help them become more accepting of others" differences. .
Rumours and gossip give people different views and opinions of someone because of what people may have heard. Jem and Scout made this mistake when they misjudged Boo Radley. They were terrified of him because of things that people had said about him and his family. From this experience they learned that they shouldn't have listened to what the towns people had said about Boo Radley. They shouldn't have judged him before getting to know him. Later on in Scout's life she met a man named Dolphus Raymond. The whole town thought he was a drunk and everyone talked about how he was married to a black woman and had children with her. But Scout didn't really care about what other people were saying and she actually gave him a chance. This showed that she was willing to give him a chance to let her form her own opinions of him instead of just listening to what other people had to say. She had realized that Boo Radley wasn't who she had assumed he was and that made her think that maybe Dolphus Raymond was just misunderstood like Boo. This goes to show that people should get to know someone before judging them by others have said. .
Another early mistake in judgement taught the children a valuable lesson about courage. They learned that courage is all about doing what feels right. Jem learned this lesson when he got to know Mrs. Dubose. He thought that she was just a mean old lady that loved to be mean to young children.