To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_Essay

So this is an essay i wrote for my gr 10 academic English class, everyone's welcome to read it and maybe get a sense of it (: To Kill a Mockingbird Albert Einstein once said, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee proves that people of all age and races need courage in order to get through even one day of their lives. This novel shows that no matter who you are you can do what you believe in, as long as you are brave and stand up for yourself. Lee shows different situations, in which courage is needed, from children and their childish beliefs to a black man being falsely accused of raping a white woman. Courage is evident in how people of Maycomb County confront their fears, and are brave enough to do things ‘out of the norm’. Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch is only six years old when this story begins, as a young child she believes in all the ‘scary’ stories that adults and children pass around about Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley. In his youth, Boo had been in a ‘gang’ and along with his friends got in trouble with the law for some things they did. Boo’s father, Mr. Radley said, “No Radley was going to an asylum,” (11) and insisted on disciplining him, himself. Rumors are constantly spread about Boo and why he hasn’t come out of his house and that he’s crazy and only comes out at night. Stephanie Crawford, the towns’ gossip, claims to have seen him looking in her window one night, “Miss Stephanie Crawford said she woke up in the night one time and saw him looking through the window.” (12-13). Scout’s older brother Jeremy ‘Jem’ Finch says that Boo is, “six and a half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch...There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face...his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time”. It was stories like this that scared younger children enough that they become too scared to even walk by the Radley’s house and would often run. A young boy named Charles Baker “Dill” Harris comes to live with his aunt for the summer and becomes Scout’s and Jem’s neighbor and friend. Dill dared Jem to go touch the Radley house and after three days Jem gave in, “‘I hope you’ve got it through your head that he’ll kill us each and every one, Dill Harris,’ said Jem... ‘Don’t blame me when he gouges your eyes out. You started it, remember.’”(13-14). After Jem went up to the house the children would dare each other to do things like that and were just proving to each other that they are more brave than the other. Boo does eventually come out after saving Jem and Scout from the towns drunk, Bob Ewell from killing them. After Boo saves the Finch children, Scout finally learns that all she had to do was face her fears, and that Boo really is just a normal person even though many rumors have been spread about him. Bravery is also a key theme in the novel, without bravery to help an individual stand up for what is believed to be moral; everyone would be silent in the sea of faulty world aspects. Scout is a prime example of boldness. On her first day of school Scout is faced with a person of authority whom she is not fond of. Miss Caroline, Scouts teacher is new in Maycomb and does not yet understand how everything works in the area. When Walter Cunningham does not bring a lunch to school, Miss Caroline offers him some money to buy himself something to eat. “‘Go eat downtown today. You can pay me back tomorrow.’ … Impatience crept into Miss Caroline’s voice: ‘Here Walter, come get it.’” This insisting further embarrasses Walter as his poverty is clearly visible. “Walter Cunningham’s face told everybody in the first grade he had hookworms. His absence of shoes told us how he got them.” (19) However, Miss Caroline obviously does not realize this. As a result, Scout decides to explain to Miss Caroline the situation in which she has put Walter in. “The Cunningham’s never took anything they can’t pay back… You’re shamin’ him, Miss Caroline. Walter hasn’t got a quarter at home to bring you, and you can’t use any stovewood.”(20-21) Scout unfortunately gets scolded for her bravery to speak out as nobody else was brave enough to stand up to their teacher. This blunt courage may be expected because of Scout’s age, though as she is the daughter of Atticus Finch, she as well as her father has a good heart and shows clear evidence of that. After Tom Robinson, a black man is falsely accused of raping a white woman he must stand up for himself and having Atticus Finch, a well respected lawyer defending him takes much courage from both of them. If a black man was accused of raping a white woman, in the 1930’s, falsely or not he would basically, automatically be thrown in jail or killed, ‘no questions asked’. Tom was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the insignificant daughter of the town unashamed drunk, Bob Ewell. As a practical man, Atticus knows that even though Tom is innocent the chances of them winning the case is slim to none, due to the colour of Tom’s skin, “‘…you’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life… Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.’” (220, 241). Yet the reality of defeat does not discourage Atticus from taking on the case and putting in all his effort. He knows that he is doing the right and moral thing, which keeps him continuing with the case, “…every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess.” Therefore he can prove to the town that Tom is a person, just as much as any white person. Tom deserves; as a result, and as a person of equal rights, not to be judged on the colour of his skin and for the way others act, but as a regular person and for what he did, and not of something that someone accused him of doing. “…some Negro men lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is the truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.”(204), this stern truth has to be said, for Atticus knows very well that the prejudice is not right. This states that if there is no equality anywhere, there should be one area in the world where all are created equal, “…there is one way in this country that in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper equal to a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein… That institution, gentlemen is a court.”(205). Atticus’ courage is needed for the duty to confront prejudice, and to be dismissed, as no one else would confront the issue. Though the community of Maycomb has not yet changed it has been confronted. The jury has taken much more time to discuss Tom Robinson’s case showing that some deeper thought has gone into Tom’s situation- even though he is still charged as guilty. It took a lot of guts on both Tom’s and Atticus’ side to what they did in order to prove Tom as innocent. Ultimately, Harper Lee demonstrates to the reader that people must stand up for what is ethically correct and what they believe is right, and to help people who on their own are helpless. Courage is one of the most important aspects in life and in this novel because without it people would coward away from opportunities to help others or themselves. Lee demonstrates different situations in which people are set in, like children being afraid of a story, a child standing up to a person of authority, or even a white man helping a black man in a racist community. The community starts out as a prejudice, racist, corrupt area, and by the end of the novel still is. However, the individuals in the novels standing up for what is morally right are now moving the community into the right direction, proves that some people have learned to stand up against a higher power for their beliefs. Works Cited Einstein, Albert. “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex...” -www.Brainyquote.com Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, 1960.