Untitled Essay, Research Paper
The Mortal Mockingbird
A songster & # 8217 ; s tune can arouse felicity in anyone, as can the smiling face
of a kid. The mockingbird sings for the interest of vocalizing, and an inexperienced person
kid possesses an innate joyousness, every bit natural as inherent aptitude. Yet a mocker & # 8217 ; s
vocal dies as easy as artlessness. In the beginning of the novel, To Kill
A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem are portrayed as inexperienced persons, uncorrupted by our
universe of bias and racism. Their universe is simple, reasonable, a kid & # 8217 ; s
universe. However, by the terminal of the novel, their universe has expanded to envelop
the irrational nature of worlds. Jem and Scout & # 8217 ; s turning up is portrayed
by a series of events that shatters their artlessness every bit easy as a mocker
can be silenced.
One of the first Chinamans in their armour of naivit & # 233 ; that protected them
was societal bias. This was introduced to them in the signifier of Aunt Alexandra.
Lookout was crushed when Aunt Alexandra sent Atticus to speak to the Scout and
Jem. & # 8221 ; & # 8216 ; you are non run-of-the-mine people, that you are the merchandise of several
coevalss gentle engendering & # 8230 ; seek to act like the small lady and gentleman
that you are & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; ( Lee 133 ) . Lookout was disquieted because he was basically stating
her non to be herself. Aunt Alexandra wanted to alter Scout & # 8217 ; s personality
to conform to society & # 8217 ; s thoughts of what was right for a miss in those times.
It seemed like Atticus had about encouraged them to happen their ain manner,
despite the disapproval of many in town ; overalls were allowed for Scout,
a female, and they had free tally of the environing few houses during the
twenty-four hours. Although the incident with Atticus prophesying Aunt Alexandra & # 8217 ; s thoughts
made Scout feel overwhelmed, Atticus resisted Aunt Alexandra by stating Lookout
to f!
orget what Aunt Alexandra told him to state, which reassured Scout slightly.
Another manner Aunt Alexandra introduced Jem and Scout to societal bias was
how she wouldn & # 8217 ; t allow Scout play with Walter Cunningham. Because the Cunninghams
were husbandmans that lived out of town, Aunt Alexandra regarded Walter to be
socially inferior, and said she would merely allow him in the house on concern.
& # 8221 ; & # 8216 ; Because he & # 8217 ; s rubbish, that & # 8217 ; s why you can & # 8217 ; t play with him ( Lee 225 ) . & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; This
exposure to societal bias struck Scout harder, because this clip around,
Atticus couldn & # 8217 ; Ts say, bury it. There was no 1 to state her that it would
be okay, the remainder of the universe may judge people by their societal category and
topographic point in society, but we don & # 8217 ; t. When Aunt Alexandra leaves, Atticus and the
kids may non travel by her societal ideals, but Scout realized that this is
the manner much of her society thinks, and more artlessness is lost by this
disclosure.
When Atticus made his base against the rabble at the courthouse, Scout and
Jem learned about some the group dynamics that affect many rabbles and packs ;
a different sort of dent. Scout knew Mr. Walter Cunningham to be a good adult male,
one that her male parent approved of. Yet he was in the rabble that was seeking to
lynch Tom Robinson. As Atticus subsequently explained to her, he was still a friend
and a good individual, but sometimes when you & # 8217 ; re in a group, you do things and
do determinations that you wouldn & # 8217 ; t as an person. & # 8221 ; & # 8216 ; A rabble & # 8217 ; s ever made
up of people, no affair what & # 8230 ; Every rabble in a Southern town is ever made
up of people you know & # 8230 ; & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; ( Lee 157 ) A rabble is merely a group of people that
acquire carried off over an thought. It took nine-year-old Scout to convey that
group of people to their senses, to recognize what they were traveling to make in
relation to their life. Until so, they had let the rabble outlook carry
them off, non o
nce sing what was go oning. Lookout had been introduced
to throng, and!
found that they could be even made up of friends she might otherwise see
healthy and rational.
Lookout and Jem were surrounded by racism and bias as kids, but until
they matured more, they didn & # 8217 ; t see it for what it was. It was portion of their
environment at the clip, and kids don & # 8217 ; t inquiry that. It was merely
the manner things were, and it wasn & # 8217 ; t challenged it until something tremendously,
evidently incorrect occurred close to place. That happening was Tom Robinson & # 8217 ; s
test. The manner all the black citizens were made to sit in the balcony in
the summer, the hottest portion of the courthouse, Jem and Scout didn & # 8217 ; t notice.
The manner the inkinesss weren & # 8217 ; T allowed to sit on juries, they didn & # 8217 ; t comment on.
Dill emotionally pointed out how disrespectfully Mr. Gilmer was handling
Tom Robinson, but at first Scout didn & # 8217 ; t understand what was incorrect. But what
hit Scout and blew Jem off was the obvious unfairness of the finding of fact. Mayella
and Bob Ewell were in the incorrect ; Tom had non volitionally touched Mayella, and
the whole courtroom knew it. They merely chose to disregard it. To all but one
on Thursday!
e jury, it didn & # 8217 ; t affair that they would convict an guiltless adult male ; he was
black. A black adult male had challenged a white adult male & # 8217 ; s word, and in that clip in
society, that was unacceptable. Scout, on the other manus, ne’er had that
prepossession ; she ne’er wittingly treated Negroes with discourtesy because
of their colour. Atticus had shielded her and her brother from any outward
bias against inkinesss. However, even he could non maintain out the idea
that Negroes weren & # 8217 ; t rather the same. Then she saw Tom Robinson found guilty,
and saw him decease as a effect. Racism had been so profoundly deep-rooted that
Scout didn & # 8217 ; t recognize its strength and consequences until that calamity opened
her eyes. As a consequence, racism and its effects entered the ever-expanding
universe of the Finch kids.
In the beginning of the novel, Scout and Jem thought there was one sort of
common people, the nice, safe common people of Maycomb. But when Bob Ewell tongue in Atticus & # 8217 ; s
face and threatened him, Scout and Jem to the full realized that even Maycomb has
its portion of & # 8220 ; societal exclusions, & # 8221 ; the people that society hardly tolerated.
Lookout and Jem had known a small about them ; Scout had ne’er heard Atticus
talk of people the manner he talked about the Ewells. & # 8220 ; Atticus said the Ewells
had been the shame of Maycomb for three coevalss. None of them had
done an honest twenty-four hours & # 8217 ; s work in his remembrance & # 8230 ; They were people, but they
lived like animate beings & # 8221 ; ( Lee 30 ) . Yet when Atticus allowed Bob Ewell to ptyalize in
his face and endanger him, Scout and Jem realized the offenses of society that
such a exclusion could perpetrate, with their lone penalty being forever castawaies
of society. Atticus explained that these offenses were allowed for the kids ;
if these indignations didn & # 8217 ; t go on, they would endure. They showed no involvement
!
in an instruction, ne’er worked or kept themselves clean, but they were kids,
and to do them unneeded agony would be unthinkable. A new class
had been added to the kids & # 8217 ; s position of people ; those who wouldn & # 8217 ; t work
and would be useless if forced- the & # 8220 ; societal exceptions. & # 8221 ;
As if they were the harmless songsters, the kids & # 8217 ; s artlessness was shattered
by these events. Social bias, racism, rabble, and & # 8220 ; societal exclusions & # 8221 ;
were now a portion of their universe. The naivit & # 233 ; and pureness had been replaced
by the cognition of human nature and the corruptness of our universe. The universe
was no longer simple, and the mocker was dead.