To Kill a Mockingbird

Don't Lock Me Up And Put Me In A Home Because I'm Innocent!
Type- Final Essay/Theme Analysis

Author's Note- This is my final essay for To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  As you probably know, this was an assigned book that we were reading as a class in Language Arts.  It is a theme analysis with text evidence to support my theory.  Enjoy!

They say that childhood is not  a way of being but a state of mind.  Others say that innocence is most active in the mind of a child. So, does that mean, theoretically, that an adult can be innocent? Of course they can.  If a child is never humbled anywhere along his or her lifetime,  they will remain innocent forever.  I would even actually say that in the story of To Kill A Mockingbird  by Harper Lee, the innocence usually thought to be only in the minds of the children is best demonstrated through the actions of the adults.

For starters I think that I will begin by analyzing the actions of Atticus Finch, the town lawyer and peacekeeper.  He is well known as never being fazed by anything, never panicking in tough situations, always considering the consequences but never letting them influence his decisions, he is the last person on earth most people would think of as being innocent.  But he is.  Taking this case, for example, was an action of innocence.  As was the time when he did nothing to restrain Bob Ewell.  Atticus is so convinced that that he understands the facts of the world, when really, all he knows is what he has experience with.  He thinks he knows how everyone will respond to his case.  He thinks he knows the need for revenge in Bob's head.  He thinks that everyone might give him a chance to expose that flaws of the human race and then be glad to change themselves.  Maybe, just possibly, Atticus Finch is a little naïve in that matter.  Naïve in the idea that he put himself and his children in danger for their lives without realizing it. In fact, ignoring all the fancy dialect and the wise opinions, Atticus Finch seems to act; sometimes more than others; just like a child himself. 

After being accused of raping young Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, an innocent black, is found guilty and sent to a black prison camp.  Days later he is shot on an escape attempt and everyone in town believes justice has been served.  Innocence, as it is the topic of my paper,  is nowhere if not in the mind of this one man.  Simply pleading innocent, which he was, at his trial was an act of innocence.  Trying to escape a prison would be another.  This man barely had the common sense to run away from the Ewell house when he say Bob approaching.  No, I'm not saying he's stupid.  No, this doesn't mean he's ignorant.  Nor is he necessarily naïve either.  Tom Robinson is completely blinded by his simple innocence.  And now he is dead because of it.  

Bob Ewell, who I have mentioned multiple times before, is just another face in the theme of innocence.  In the end, of course, he's dead(see a pattern?), but during his life he never, not once, ever, thought of anyone but himself. This trial was nothing but a chance to get more money by weaseling his way through the holes in society.  His kids were nothing but pawns in order to get what he wanted.  He was an evil old man, and however smart and devious he was, he was still quite innocent in some terms of the word.  Without realizing what damage his temper can cause, he somehow turned the entire town against him. Not that they weren't before, but now more than ever they want him to stay in his place.  Or he might just end up in a position he does not want to be in. 

"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard but I know you'll go after bird.  Shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Atticus uses his words of wisdom once again to tell Jem and Scout about the ways of the world. Maybe it's just coincidence that later in the book a bunch of mockingbirds would be dead. Maybe, but I don't think so.  Mockingbirds are basically the model of innocence, they never hurt anyone, they sing and play and have babies.  Why would you want to shoot them? Because we are us.  And that's what we do.  Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Bob Ewell are just like mockingbirds themselves.  Yet almost all of them end up dead.  Harper Lee was trying to tell us something. 

Many times in our society we have come across adults that haven't moved out of, so to speak, their childlike minds.  Innocence, or not knowing or understanding beyond what you see in your head, is found everywhere.  Whether it's in children or adults, that doesn't matter all that much, but what does matter is that you treat it simply like you do a learning disability.  It is as such, only about a billion times more common.  Everyone has a little innocence, just a smidge bit.  And so, I suppose, the moral of the story is that it doesn't matter your age- your height, don't judge someone by what they can't see, judge them by how they use what they can see.

Blanket Scene 

 Type- Scene Analysis

Author's Note- This is a scene analysis that I wrote to uncover exactly whose blanket it was that they found on Scout.  This is basically a really important scene in the novel because when I think of To Kill A Mockingbird, I think of Boo Radley and how he isn't nearly as bad as his reputation.

I chose this scene to help represent the book because to the readers, it was one of the first signs that Boo Radley was a alive, and maybe not quite as mean and crazy as everyone says he is. Boo plays a huge part in the story of the town as well as the story of Jem and Scout's childhood.  His mystery and craziness drive the kids to doing some things that they will most likely remember the rest of their lives.  Also, after reading this scene, that was when I first started to consider that maybe it was Boo that sowed the pants, maybe it was him that filled the tree with gifts, and now, maybe it was him that gave Scout the blanket.  Another reason why I enjoy reading the excerpt from the book would he because it just proves that not everyone in town knows exactly as much as they think they do.  They think that they have all the dirt on everyone, when really, all they know are a bunch of silly stories and rumors.  People like Miss. Stephanie Crawford are really not quite as knowledgeable as they give themselves credit for.  Boo Radley isn't who everyone says he is.  And he is about ready to show it.  

 How Things Really Went

Author's Note- This is a creative character analysis that I wrote from the perspective of Miss. Stephanie Crawford.  I wanted to make the reader understand how misled she is and how you cannot judge her because she likes to tell a good story.  My purpose was not to make the reader feel sorry for her though; she doesn't deserve it, but a little bit of pity would be alright.

The road was dead silent, not a single soul dared exit the safety of their homes with the mad dog on the loose.  With a sudden curiosity, Stephanie Crawford poked her tiny head through the gape in the curtains in order to catch a glimpse of the action.  She gasped.  There was Atticus Finch; the town lawyer and peacekeeper aiming a large gun at the obnoxious dog belonging to that stupid Negro Tim Johnson.  Her legs shook.  She ached to tell someone about her findings, but, as they all most likely are watching it right now just like herself.  She picked up the telephone.  She rang a few numbers and then held it up to her ear. 

"Hello? Who is this?"the receiver asked.

"It's Stephanie Crawford. I would like to report  a rabid dog loose in Maycomb country. We have been trying to restrain it but it's mad!"

"Sorry ma'am about that ma'am.  I'll be there right away." The man's voice in the earpiece was replaced with a dial tone.  Stephanie placed the hand piece back on the doc.  She smiled. 'Bout time somebody put that darn Negro's dog in it's place.  She strutted over to her dining room table and pulled out a chair, but practically jumped out of her petticoat when the unmistakable sound of a gun being fired rang out in her house.  She ducked; hiding under the table and waited.  Oh no.  They've come for her! They were going to shred her dresses and cut her hair and- she stopped midsentence when a though arose in her head.  The blacks- they were uprising! Atticus had given  Tom respect so now they all thought they deserved something more! How dare he! That stupid Negro lover was going to get her killed! She crouched lower.  Then a sound erupted in the streets.  Not gunshots, not screams, not  anything she could ever have imagined at such a time.  It was applause.  She stood.  The idiot blacks thought that they had defeated her didn't they?  Well she'd teach them.  In a single burst of courage she grabbed the shotgun she always kept behind her large array of fur coats in the closet and ran into the street.  And froze.  It wasn't Negros applauding.  It was Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery and Jem and Scout Finch and all her other imbecile neighbors applauding. Averting her eyes from those strange people she saw a darkly clothed figure fallen in a heap on the road.  They killed someone and now they were applauding? What was going on?  Either way, she didn't need this she thought as she looked down at the gun still in her hands and bustled back to the house.  A few moments later, when she emerged again, the crowd had dispersed until only Jeremy, Jean Louise, and Miss Maudie remained on the road.  The figure was gone.