We Killed The Mocking Bird

Tom is found guilty from the jury. After the jury however I noticed something unusual about the way the court had taken the case. I noticed it while Miss Maudie was talking to the children. She said that the court had made progress when it came to discrimination. That the fact the jury spent a long time in the court proved that racism was getting less and less worse. I thought to myself “if people knew that racism was wrong, then why did they practice it?” Even the most powerful person which was the judge knew it was wrong. He specifically got Atticus to cover the case in order to give it more chance then a public defender would give. I think this just helped showed that Maycomb isn’t the paradise that Jem and Scout thought it was. Especially with how Jem and Scout reacted when the trail was over, and Tom was named guilty. I was very appalled to see that some people knew that racism was wrong, and yet little was done. I know it would’ve been hard considering racism was still accepted by most people, but at the same time there were many hints during these chapters that implied that everyone knew the case named Tom guilty because of color. The evidence didn’t hold up against him, and the court itself still named him guilty.

I was surprised at the final verdict. Racism plays an important role in this book that racism isn’t even funny anymore. I’m still kind of sad though that Tom Robinson’s case didn’t result in his favor. The black man should have won the case. Complete discrimination, white supremacists of course favored the white man. The people sent him a ridiculous amount of food and it showed appreciation for the white guy that defended the black, at least they got something. The final verdict also changed Jem’s opinion. He used to have hope in the world that people wouldn’t side on one side based on the color of people’s skin. He was clearly wrong and he became disappointed when he realized what had happened. 

This was by far the most disappointing part of the book. The only other part that disappointed me was Ms. Dubose. It is horrible to see that a hard working, friendly black man, lost to straight up trailer trash. The evidence obviously leads to Bob having beat his daughter. And what is worse is that Tom ended up dying. When he tried to escape he was shot 17 times! To me that just seems inhumane! But the most confusing part of this section was when Bob was threatening Atticus. All Atticus did was state the facts, and if that made Mr. Ewell seem like an idiot, well that’s the truth. He was a very dull, stupid man, and trying to convince a jury otherwise is just pointless. It was obvious that he was not very smart and Atticus exposed this to the courthouse to show what type of people the Ewell’s really are. There was no reason to threaten atticus, because this was not personal. Atticus would have done it to anyone on the stands in the courtroom. It is his job and he is purely being professional. But Atticus was right to just think nothing of it because I think it is purely a vague threat.

In these chapters we got to see Atticus’ talent at what he does every day. We got to see how amazing of a lawyer he really is. He knows that the odds are bad in this case. But what he is doing right now, is showing who the true Ewell’s are. They are the trashy, dirty, illiterate… let’s say… exception to the town. Everyone just sort of lets them be on their way. They aren’t forced to obey the same laws or even to keep their children in school. Now I for one think that is a bit ridiculous. There is no reason that certain people should be “exceptions” to the law. It is unfair to everyone else and it just shows that they are not capable of being like a functioning member of a town. But as I was saying, Atticus shows that they live in a very trashy home. We also learn (from him questioning Mayella), that when Mr. Ewell is drunk, he is sometimes abusive. What that means to this case, is that if he beat her, they could very well just be covering up by blaming Tom Robinson. But I think that the most important part of Atticus’ case was him showing that Tom is very open. He told them all about the first time he was in trouble with the law, and this also shows us how honest Tom may be.

I noticed something about Mayella. She seemed to almost display a bad character from refusing to tell the truth when Atticus asked her. But I think there is another reason. I noticed that Mayella was one child among many neglected children in our world. The evidence pointed to Mayella being beaten by her father. The fact that Mayella started crying in front of Atticus when asked to tell the truth implies to me that his father is probably the culprit who caused this whole thing. I think this also ties into a whole another story with her past. This is the way Ewell treats all his children I bet. Mayella claimed to have a lonely life without friends. She even admitted to her father being a drunk. I think this all leads to Ewell destorying Mayella’s life. Her life seemed recked by what he did in her childhood. She seems so desperate that she would even try and be with a man of color. Everyone had already knew this was very forbidden, but she still did it anyway. I think this shows that Bob Ewell really made a huge negative impact upon Mayella’s life. Mayella is simply a child who has had an abusive father, and that has affected how she acted during the trial. She may be a nice down to earth person on the inside. I wanted to point this out, because there are children all across the world who experiences things like these.

During Ch 13-16 Autn Alexandra talks much about the people of Maycomb. Especially about their own. She seems to care a lot about the family reputation and the fact that it may be carried on in the same manner it has been for generations. She stayed to give Scout a feminine touch, and made Atticus talk about their ancestry. In the end however I think that Aunt Alexandra may care too much about maintaining the reputation of the Finch family. During one part Aunt Alexandra even questioned the intentions of Atticus when it comes to the case. I understand that it was not a socially acceptable thing back then to defend those who were colored, but Aunt Alexandra even accused Atticus of bringing disgrace upon the family. To accuse your own family member of bring disgrace upon the family from trying to defend someone else seems a bit too far. Atticus strongly believed it was the right thing to do, but she still said it was wrong without taking in what he had said. I think if you tie together all these events and things, she ends up caring a little bit too much about the family reputation and how they are seen by the community.

“Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’ talk at home it’d be out of place, wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked white-folks talk at church, and with my neighbors?” (Calpurnia 126)
I used this quote, because I found it quite interesting to have the people in Maycomb describe the different ways people talk by colored and non-colored. On page 126 Jem, Scout, and Calpurnia are talking about how she learned to read, but what I found unusual was the fact that they separated the way colored people talked to each other compared to those who were non-colored. I know this has a part to do with the fact that not many colored people could read, but I thought it could say a lot about how people in the community treat each. To go as far as categorizing how people talk based on skin. Let alone the fact that they expected a manner of talking in certain places based on skin such as church and home.

In these chapters I was amazed by the change in Jem. He has gone from just a boy, to what he is now calling a gentleman. He is maturing greatly and I think he is become an all around better kid. Though there was one point when I was very confused. This was the same moment that confused Atticus. This was when he responded to Mrs. Dubose calling Atticus a nigger lover. I thought this was very out of character, and so did Atticus. This is the type of thing that Scout might do, but Jem? That just seemed out of the question. But I suppose this was to show another side of Jem, the side no one saw coming, because Jem had not lost his temper like that before. I was slightly confused by this. But I was very impressed to see him follow through with his responsibility to Mrs. Dubose that extra week even though he was supposed to be done. I think Jem is learning that he has to do some things in life even when he doesn’t want to, and I think this is helping his maturity.
Another thing that I was amazed by was Atticus putting down the Rabid dog. I was from the same point of view as Jem at this point. All we knew about Atticus was that he worked and enjoyed reading, so it was a definite shocker to see that he had such talent at shooting. I think this shows that he has a lot more to him than what appears on the outside. I am very interested to see what we will learn about Atticus next.
Overall I am hooked on this book and am eager to read more.

In Chapter 12, Atticus must travel to the state legislative 2 days of every week. And one day Calpurnia decides to take Scout to a “colored church.” What I find appalling was the fact that a church did not even have the basic decorations or treated with enough respect. This place of which represented a historic landmark (with the purchase from the free slaves) wasn’t even painted. Racism is so severe that even places where we practice religion is discriminated against if its a colored church. I find this so wrong in so many different ways even if it was in the past.

What really surprised me is the fact that racism has spread to color and white people so much, that racism was even expressed in church. A women named Lula showed racial discrimination just for bringing white children into the church, but yet colored and white people practice the same religions. Just to see racism so bad, that it affects our very worshiping system really disappoints me. Many of the parishioners can’t even read. There is little money for hymnals, but yet the church seems to give hope to people. Even if the condition is poor, it is of great value of them. It is as if the church is a symbol that there is hope. I just can’t believe racism was so severe that it affected our religious system.

To Kill a Mocking Bird displays a lot of discrimination. Especially with people of color. There are even discrimination among differences in education such as in Scout’s case. But we have to remember that people of color and anyone else are the same as every other human in the world. They share everything that we do.

I believe the song “Beautiful by Christina Aguilera” represents how the people who are discriminated against in the book should not be. Discrimination is wrong. People of color in the book are unjustly charged for acts they never did. The song Beautiful shows that no matter what happens, everyone is the same and deserves the same rights as everyone else. I think the fact that so many people can be discriminated against in 1900s really shows the evils a human can produce. At the same time however there are people who fight aganist them to show that humans will always have a good side to them. No matter what the reason may be, people are beautiful no matter what they look like. I think the fact that discrimination is so abundent in the book plays a major role in the story.

Beautiful- Christina Aguilera

I don’t know how to set up an audio file so I just inserted a link to a youtube video of the song.