In To Kill a Mockingbird, we follow the mind of a little girl through one year of her childhood that would change how she viewed the world forever. From the very start of the story, we are introduced to the big bad wolf of the town, Boo Radley. A fearsome phantom that lived in a house filled with overgrown plants and chilled air. It is said when people’s garden flowers withered during the winter, it was because Boo breathed on them; when people’s livestock and pets had been slaughtered mysteriously, even though the culprit was eventually found and sentenced, words about Boo’s involvement still spread. It was an unspoken truth that Boo Radley had a taste for people’s suffering in Maycomb.
However, most people in Maycomb had never met Boo Radley. He never came out of the haunted house. So, these rumors, speculations, mockery spiraled out of control, and they eventually reached the young and untainted and unassuming mind of the young Scout Finch. She was scared of the haunted house; never wanting to take a step closer. The tales of how Boo would take children who were messing about near his house made chills run up her spine. She was scared of this phantom.
But when Jem, Scout and Dill went in the Radley’s place and disturbed the calming Maycomb night, Jem found the pants that he had torn and left at the fence in the haunted house sewn crookedly and placed neatly beside where they had been; as if someone had known that Jem would come back for it. Jem and Scout thought it was a warning; warning them not to go back again. A week later this incident, the Finches found little trinkets in a hole in a tree that they always passed on the way to school. Two figures made of soap, one representing a boy wearing shorts and the other representing a girl with bangs. Chewing gum, which was incredibly hard to come by. A word-spelling medal. And a pocket watch attached to an aluminum knife.
It was later revealed that Boo, Arthur Radley, had been their guardian angel this whole time. He was afraid of venturing out for all the insidious and wicked things that happened in the world. When Jem was practicing shooting, Atticus said to him it was alright to kill bluejays, but it was a sin to kill a mockingbird, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Arthur Radley is a mockingbird.
The theme of the
unfairness and unjustness that the characters faced in To Kill a Mockingbird is
painstakingly apparent, and it made me wonder, was there ever a time where I made
my judgement on someone without hearing the full story?
Hiya, just want to pop in and share my thoughts. First please don't judge yourself if you doubt it happened before.
ReplyDeleteJudging others without hearing the full story is very common, I think. I've heard that it's one of the ways that our brain make it easier for us to make comment on things. So, scientifically saying, it's sort of out of our control to think in that way. But I always force myself to keep in mind how those "story's protagonist" might think in their situation. Perhaps that might somehow take us to put our judgment after learning more of them. And also, stop us from impulsive perspective on them.
Hope we could be the one make up our mind more objective. X)
Hi Lea!
ReplyDeleteSometimes we tend to make judgments on people we are not that familiar with. I heard that is because of the protection mechanism of our psychology. The judgment caused bias and suspicion, which from time to time leads to the misunderstanding of a person. When I hadn't been to college, I was easily to do wrong judgment based on superficial assumption. While I found that would make me lost lots of great opportunities to get to know someone is awesome, and that's definitely a big shame. So when I was reading your log, I relate those story plots to my personal experience, which illuminated the core of this book pretty well.