Concluding To Kill a Mockingbird and it's themes

In my ending post I'm going to focus on the themes because they best convey the power behind Harper Lee's convictions  and words.
I felt that the primary themes were:

Racism/prejudices
Hypocrisy
Standing for your convictions
Childhood/innocence
Making judgments


Racism plagues every corner of Maycomb County. It twists the truth and disables the conscience of the people. Respected, upright citizens are so rooted in their hatred that they will turn away from the clear evidence of Tom Robinson's innocence and Mr. Ewel's guilt. I'm more inclined to think that the people lack backbone than reason. I think the combined affect of racism and peer pressure was enough for them to vote against their better judgment.

Prejudices span all of the classes. Regardless of status, looking down on someone,anyone gives a person a sense of self worth and pride. Demeaning others places you on higher ground. When Jem figured this out he said it like this,
"The thing about it is, our kind of folks don't like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don't like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks" (303).

So much of the hatred and evil stems from pride. The people of Maycomb County, being convinced that they are the higher race, struggle with a sense of self-righteousness. This comes out in various ways including hypocrisy. Like Jem, Scout is constantly making discoveries about the inconsistencies and evils in society. Scout says,
“Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was-she goin' down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her- she was talking with Miss Stephen Crawford. I heard her say it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home-” (331).

Though many of these difficult themes pertain mainly to the citizens of Maycomb County, Jem and Scout are guilty themselves of making judgments. They jump to conclusions about the Radleys assuming that Boo is evil incarnate and the house is haunted. They angrily judge Mrs. Dubose for her bitterness and self-centerdness. But both of these assumptions come back to slap them in the face when they discover that Mrs. Dubose was suffering from a morphine addiction and when Scout is rescued by Boo Radley himself.

This book dragged/lead me through the range of emotions. Observing Tom Robinson's trial pained me. Hearing about Dill's strained relationship with his parents was tragic. It was uplifting to see Scout stand up to defend her father in front of a crowd of angry men. I felt pride, fury, pity, joy, and hope. I'm thankful for this book and I suggest that you all read it because it is not only beautiful and tragic, but it's nostalgic and deeply profound.

To Kill a Mockingbird update

From the very beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird tension was ignited by the description of the Radley Place. And up until this point, the tension has been gradually fanned into flame as the prejudices connected to the Robinson case snake their way around the Finch family. Though the darkness of running hatred spills through the corners of Scout's world, Harper Lee keeps the beauty of childhood alive. But like any child, Scout matures as she observes the world. She learns from Mrs. Dubose's bitterness, from skepticism over Jem's teenage wisdom, from lining at Calpurnia's church, and from Atticus's emotional strength. In a way it's tragic to experience evil polluting Scout's innocent perception of the world, but in way it makes me proud. I'm proud of her courage. She's never daunted. Like her father she is firm in the face if discomfort and opposition. I'm really apprehensive to see how the more serious challenges unfold. I have a lot of faith in the Finch family and the path Atticus has chosen, I'm just afraid that others will take out their hatred on them. As I reached the halfway mark of this book, I realized how bound up I had gotten in the characters. I say characters and not storyline because To Kill a Mockingird is deeply infused in Scout's relationships and her understanding of those around her. I find that I don't lose myself in the story, I lose myself in Scout.

Sunday Morning Tradition

Every Sunday, me and some friends go to a quaint little diner called KB's for breakfast. KB's resembles a bed and breakfast with its homey, bustling atmosphere. The parking lot bursts with minivans that carried big families, the motorcycle that bore a troubadour, the battered truck that brought the newly weds, and our cars which swept us from camp. We mount the stairs of the wraparound, flowering porch, open the door, and step onto the polished hardwood floor. Everything's buzzing and we have to dip and dodge around laden tables, children, and the teenage bus-boy. Up the stairs and through a door is one long lone table. It's much quieter in there and mellow jazz filters through the room. But it doesn't take long to the silence to be disrupted by our noisy crew. Orders for cinnamon swirl French toast, OJ, coffee, side orders of bacon, scrambled eggs, pancake stacks, and fluffy puff omelets begin to bury the table. I've never seen left overs once we've finished. Not a scrap of bacon, not a smear of syrup, not a drop of coffee dirties the dishes. We leave with comfortably tight bellies. Having been so pleasantly filled by KB's breakfast, we jump into the car, church-bound and ready to be filled by the Word.

Storm chasing me

My first near car accident. Had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with another driver, but had everything to do with one of the craziest thunderstorms I've ever been in. After work was over last Tuesday, I went to drive to Planet Fitness. The sky was blue, seemed like there was nothing to worry about. Five minutes into the drive I get a message that I should turn back because there were tornado and thunderstorm warnings. Just as I'm turning around the flood gates of heaven rip open and the downpour began. For a few stressful moments I fiddled with the windshield wipers. I was completely blind. And even when I got them going full speed, I was still squinting to see through my streaming windshield. As I'm driving back to camp, branches are whipping around me and then just a few feet in front of me, a tree comes crashing down across the road, completely blocking my path. Now I started to panic as I laboriously make a 9-point turn while shouldering my phone and consulting a friend  about getting back to camp. He directed me to another road which was also blocked. At this point, cars are everywhere, big trees are across almost every road, and rain is coming down in sheets. I'm on the verge of tears with exasperation. My friend, Derek told me to go to a diner nearby to wait until he could get to me and help me get back to camp. I waited for about 30 minutes at the diner watching the sky turn a sickly shade of yellow. He finally got there, remember I'm only five minutes from camp at this point. There, after talking to Jody we waited for another hour for a guy named Rob to pick us up in his jeep. Rob wasn't able to get to us, and by now the rain and wind has died down. So Derek and I drove home in his car leaving mine at the diner. It took us another 30 minutes to get home, passing live cables, a tree fallen into a house, and roads littered with branches. When we got back the power at camp was out. And it was out until Thursdays at noon.