To Kill A Mockingbird: Chap 1-9
- sarahej8
- Feb 27, 2018
- 5 min read
Hello, and welcome to a new blog series on the American renowned classic, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Over the next couple of weeks, my GHEnglish class is embarking on an exploration involving analyzing and discussing TKAM through a series of different mediums and questions of focus. Following analyzing, and generated ideas surrounding the novel, the unit will conclude with a creative project, so look forward to that and enjoy!
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First Impressions
When I started reading TKAM, I pretty much dove in completely blind. It’s shameful, but true, to admit I did not know a single thing about the book prior to this unit. With that said, it took a couple of chapters to get into the swing of things, but once I did, reading went fairly smoothly and it was an overall simple novel.
What interested me most was the strikingly vivid setting, and although there was little describing the actual town, the people living in it gave the neighborhood life and told me all I needed to know. The book describes the town as being filled with people born and bred in their small corner of the world. Every single person has a place and a reputation to uphold, meaning no one in their right mind would risk drifting outside of those boundaries. Another thing that struck a chord with me was the conflict buildup. As of now, the author almost directly lays out broken pieces for the reader, which we can only assume will be connected as the story goes on. I have to say, this book strays furthest from anything I’ve ever willingly read on my own before, but I enjoy the change and look forward to seeing how this story unfolds.
Central Theme
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” - Atticus Finch
The main focus of our TKAM unit is to examine and discuss our (in)ability to understand the lives of others. In TKAM, Atticus addresses this through the statement above, which everyone has heard in some variation at some point in their life.
William James, an American philosopher, wrote an essay discussing this exact topic and stated that as humans, we naturally make connections and every single word, phrase, or image evokes some sort of feeling due to a prior disposition. James states, “Where we judge a thing to be precious in consequence of the idea we frame of it, this is only because the idea is itself associated already with a feeling.”
Moreover, this relates to Brent Staples’ piece, Black Men in Public Space, which discusses the stereotype African American men are plastered with and the feelings evoked from people surrounding those men due to the stereotype. In addition, this gives us a deeper understanding of the “secret” lives people live, which may not be secrets at all, just lives waiting to be discovered and acknowledged. This reminds me of an exercise we did in GHEnglish last year on the short story, The People Who Walk Away From Omelas. A secret life is much like the Omela's “secret” boy in the basement, which everyone is aware of, but refuses to acknowledge for risk of every belief they’ve built for themselves collapsing.
Character Analysis: Atticus
For the duration of this novel, I am doing a character analysis on good ‘ol Atticus Finch, the father of Scout, our novel’s narrator. Atticus is a middle aged white man who was recently widowed and is currently raising a 8 year old and a 12 year old. He is a lawyer currently working on a case defending a black man, and receiving quite a bit of backlash for it.
On page 76, Atticus answers Scout’s pressing questions concerning his work life by stating, “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess.” This passage not only states the current situation Atticus is in, but foreshadows a possible future conflict and struggle in Atticus’ life. He continues with “This time we aren’t fighting the Yankees, we’re fighting our friends. But remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they’re still our friends and this is still our home.” Clarifying the severity of the situation and the oncoming struggles for the family, which bring forth the need to stand strong in their beliefs.
One thing Atticus is known for through his interactions with Scout and Jem, is his unique way of raising kids. Nowadays, many kids feel commanded, and dictated by their parents. However, Atticus looks at it as a way of teaching his kids through life lessons and first hand learning. He has no problem letting his kids fall on their faces and make mistakes as long as he reminds them of the right decision and see that they learn from it.
Atticus states on page 75, “If I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” Atticus feels that if he doesn't perform his duty and overcome the trials in life, he could never teach his kids to work through times of hardship. In this way, Atticus respects his children by saying he needs to be worthy to raise them, further revealing his just personality, which I predict will be significant in moving the plot further along.
Lit Circle
For the discussion on the first few chapters of TKAM, we were separated into small lit circles of about 6 people, all with different reading roles. Fortunately, I was the researcher who had the most interesting role in the group, no that I’m biased or anything. In my research, I discovered that Harper Lee’s childhood resembles many aspects of TKAM, including growing up in an old town in Alabama during the Great depression, and having a father who’s a lawyer. In addition, while writing her book in the 1950’s there was a recent case called the Scottsboro Boys Trial, where a group of black teenage boys were all sentenced to death under a clearly unfair trail. After numerous repeals, the case made it to state court and eventually supreme court, concluding in the release of all falsely convicted boys. As you can see, this book draws strong connections to events during the mid 1900’s and is a truly interesting piece to analyze.
However, besides the background information of the book, there were many great points made in this discussion. One that stood out to me was a group member, Kendall, commented that everyone in Maryborough has their place in society and no one is willing to step outside of the restrictions carved into them. However, Boo may be an example of the repercussions for stepping out of those lines Atticus is currently edging to. This opened more windows for my own thoughts to wander and as our discussion progressed, we got on topics concerning the mystery surrounding Boo Radley.
Mmmmm…. What now?
After only dented this book, countless great insights resulted. However, what intrigued me most was the societal roles in the town, how those reflect segregation, and how people would react to those that step outside of their boundaries, including, Atticus, Boo, Scout, and Dill.
On page 88, Atticus states, “You know what’s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand…”
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