To Kill a Blog Post Series (AKA the Last TKAM Post)
- Abby
- May 6, 2017
- 4 min read
Okay, so we finished the book. Realistic fiction books usually leave my head pounding and completely bored, but To Kill a Mockingbird, was surprisingly enjoyable. I always found myself wanting to read beyond the assigned chapters. The story was very thought-provoking and it made me stop and think a few times. I've actually asked for my own copy as a birthday gift so I feel like that expresses my fondness towards the book.
As always, here's a brief description of how this post will be set up since apparently I can't keep it consistent. There will be two major parts to this post, A and B.
Part A:
Towards the end of the book, we see a lot less of Calpurnia. I feel like her main purpose in the story was to rake the kids to the church. Since then, she has kind of just faded into the background.
Boo Radley, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. He disappears in the middle of the book, but he becomes a major player in the last couple of chapters. Honestly, given the number of lines he has during those chapters, though, you wouldn't think he was important. All he says is, "Will you take me home?" (278). There is such a vulnerability in these words. He needs Scout to guide him and ground him so he can make it back to his house. It's almost as if he thinks he couldn't make it back on his own.
This type of vulnerability reminds me of a child in a way. In the discussion, which I will talk about fully in a bit, I asked the class if they think Boo ever got to really grow up. He was stuck inside the Radley house for most of his life and he never experienced what it was like to feel the pressures that make us grow up. I don't feel like he is an adult in the same way that Atticus, Calpurnia, and Aunt Alexandra are adults. There is something that separates him from them.
Now, on to the discussion. Aside from Boo Radley, Atticus was a very important topic during our discussion. One line in the book has Atticus asking if Scout could "possibly understand" that Ewell fell on his knife (276). He wasn't just asking if she understood that this situation could happen, but also if she understood that this was the story she had to tell.
Obviously, Ewell did not fall on his knife; Boo killed him to protect the kids. This is a big moment for Atticus. He is accepting what Heck Tate is saying and defying the only thing he has ever believed in: the truth. It's why he is a lawyer. He wants to bring the truth to light and protect innocent people. Atticus deciding to tell a lie is foreign to him. He only does it because he it is the morally correct way to respond in order to protect Boo.
Part B:
In the essay "On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings" by William James, discusses how human beings are blind to the perspectives of other people. However, in TKAM, children are deemed less blind than most other kinds of people. When Scout asked Dolphus Raymond why he trusted her and Dill with his deepest secret, he responded, "Because you're children and you can understand it"(201). Children are not yet poisoned by the world and its prejudices. They are not born with the judgements made by their elders. These prejudices have not yet been fully taught to them so they still have some capacity to see beyond them.
The adults inside of and outside of this book, though, are still so blind to the perspectives of those around them. At this point in history, I don't think there was enough communication between groups to actually facilitate any sort of understanding or empathy. Neighborhoods and schools were segregated by race. Black people were not given the opportunity to work alongside white people as equals and colleagues. There was no place where people from both groups could come together and listen with open minds. And, frankly, even if there had been a space to do so, I doubt anyone would approach a conversation with a mind set they were alright with being changed. Their prejudices clouded their ability to see both sides.
And it's not like this problem has gone away just because it's no longer the 1930s. Human beings are still so consumed by their own values and perceptions that they can't bear to have them jeopardized by someone who disagrees. We make our notions of the world define us and we fear differing opinions because they threaten to shake the very idea of who we are. This inability to see another point of view without crumbling is what causes so many of our conflicts in today's world.
The world would be a better place if we all just took a moment and walked in other people's shoes before we act.
Au revoir,
Abby
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