Blog Post 2

      To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming of age southern gothic novel written in New York during the 1950’s by Harper Lee. It is written in the first person by the main character Scout, a middle class elementary school student in the south during the great depression. Occasionally it is from her perspective as it happens and other times she is looking back as an adult. Because of her youthful naiveté she is very honest and unbiased perspective.

     Since this novel deals with race relations in the south during the great depression, it is important to have the point of view of a child who hasn’t been taught the stereotypes and hatred of society and still views people as equal. And she is very observant and clever, providing a good voice for the novel with clear descriptions of Maycomb and vivid imagery. The setting contributes quite a bit of necessary context to the story; it explains the culture and language and provides an explanation for the result of Tom Robinson’s trial.

      To Kill a Mockingbird deals with the loss of innocence of Scout Finch and her older brother Jem as they lose their illusions that their small town of Maycomb Alabama is constituted of essentially good people. The novel starts the summer before Scout starts schooling. She and Jem meet a boy named Dill who is visiting family for the summer and they become inseparable. They are fascinated by the Finch’s reclusive neighbor Boo Radley and continuously try to lure him out of the house. They have heard many vicious rumors about Boo (fueling their curiosity) such as one that says he killed his own father.

      Atticus Finch has raised his children to be unapologetically themselves even if it defies social norms. This is evident by Scout’s being a tomboy. While most parents would have her learning manners and wearing dresses, Atticus is more concerned about her soul. With a moral compass like Atticus’ raising them it’s no wonder they believe the whole world is inherently good. But as they grow older, he can’t shelter them anymore and this illusion slowly starts to shatter for Scout on her first day of school. Her teacher puts rigid and uninspiring curriculum above her students’ well-being and intellectual growth. Despite a few other incidents that cause her to question how good people really are, she remains extremely sheltered and thinks most people are good until her father took over the Tom Robinson case. Tom is an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman Mayella Ewell. Even though Tom is respected in his community and Bob Ewell is literally white trash, in the south the word of a white person always trumps that of a black person.

      Scout and Jem are constantly heckled; their Aunt Alexandra chastises Atticus for taking on the case and nearly accuses him of brining disgrace upon the family name. Jem finally snaps and retaliates when the crotchety old lady insults their father and destroys her flower bush. Even though the lady did not deserve his respect, he shouldn’t have acted out and Atticus had him read to the woman every day. Jem also starts being patronizing towards Scout and telling her to be more feminine, which shows that he is starting to grow up and see his sister not as Scout but as a girl and so therefore she should act like the other girls.

       Jem grows up a lot in the chapters surrounding the trial; he and Scout begin to see Boo Radley as more than some ghoulish figment of their imagination but as an actual person. When Dill runs away from home, Jem tells Atticus straight away instead of hiding him there as a child would have. Also when they see the lynch mob, Scout is too trusting and naïve to even realize what’s going on and starts chatting up a man that she recognizes as the father of a boy in her class. Jem however refuses to go when Atticus orders them home because he wants to protect his father. We see Scout’s maturity when she comforts Dill (who symbolizes childhood throughout the novel) when he cries during the trial. His youth limits him to that reaction while Scout’s maturity makes her want to soldier on despite her confusion at Maycomb’s hypocrisy. She even manages to have sympathy for Mayella Ewell because she must have been the “loneliest girl in the world”.

      Jem is forever changed by the verdict. He loses his faith in society and starts questioning everything except his father who has always fought for what was right. It gets to the point where he starts to abhor Maycomb stating that that Boo Radley probably doesn’t leave his house because he doesn’t want to face the evil outside. He becomes much more aware of the vulnerable “mockingbirds” of the world. For example when he has Scout save the roly-poly that she was about to squash on the grounds that was harmless and innocent, which at the time she perceives as weak and almost feminine but was really his internalization of the lesson his father taught him.

      Scout’s growth and maturation is a little more subtle but equally impressive to that of her brother. She starts to realize that not everyone in the world is good, without becoming jaded and resentful like her brother. She is often confused by the hypocrisy of the townspeople of Maycomb. She can see past people’s flaws and realize that everyone is fallible, something her brother can’t seem to manage.

      This all ties back to the main theme of the book which is to hold back judgment because no one is truly innocent. The title to Kill a Mocking Bird is a prime example. It means that it is a sin to punish something pure or innocent. The book uses simple clean prose and symbolism to portray some greater truths about life in general, for example Boo Radley. He was ostracized and shunned by society when in reality he had done nothing wrong. Maycomb’s citizenry demonized him and created vicious rumors, they “killed a mockingbird”. And with Miss Maudie’s no-nonsense voice we get that she talking about more than the poor soul in the house next door, she is talking about everyone who has been excluded from society from being different.  All throughout the book we see people being judged too quickly and have been given undue respect (i.e. Bob Ewell) or have been shunned before they even have the opportunity to show what good they have to offer (i.e. Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and Mr. Dolphus Raymond).

      Another forming tenet of the book is that “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.” None of the characters are quite what they originally appear to be. When we are first introduced to Atticus the kids complain that he is older than the other dads and doesn’t take them fishing, Scout even complains he doesn’t have time to teach her when as the story develops we see that she and Jem are the most well educated students in their school (no thanks to their teachers). Also he has taught them many valuable lessons that you can’t learn from a book and he is also very much a man’s man contrary to what they thought, with the best gun aim in the county. Also our first introduction to Maycomb is generally positive, the people seem welcoming and sensible but as the novel progresses we see the hypocritical and evil underbelly of the quaint southern town.

      In the end it all boils down to the fact that you cannot make assumptions, and judgments are best kept to yourself until you know the person’s character. It also speaks to the amount of faith and courage you must have to stand up for what you know is right. Atticus knew that he would lose the case and possibly his reputation, yet he took it on anyway because he knew it was the right thing to. Sometimes we have to fight for what is right even if “licked” before you even begin.