Part 2 of To Kill A Mockingbird

Wow! What an end to a book. The book started out as a simple story of a child's life, and ended with the murder of an innocent man, the becoming of a hero in Boo Radley, and the death of an evil man. I never saw this ending coming. Scout's life also changed with the trial of Tom Robinson. She grew up in the second half of this novel before our eyes. A lot happened in the second part of, "To Kill a Mockingbird," but I would like to focus on one thing, the sighting of Boo Radley.

Boo Radley is a mysterious man. He never comes out of his house for anything. He has not been seen in years, so people do not even know if he is still alive. Miss Stephanie even claims that she saw him peeping in her windows. It is not until the last 20 or so pages of the novel where we actually see Boo Radley. Boo Radley is actually a hero when we see him. Boo saves Scout and Jem from the drunken Bob Ewell who is out to get them after Atticus tore him apart on the witness stand. There is a fight at the end of the novel between Sheriff Tate and Atticus of whether Bob Ewell fell on his knife killing himself or if Jem stabbed him. I believe that Boo stabbed Bob with one of his table knives. Bob Ewell was set on killing Scout and Jem, but Boo saved them. Boo risked his life for those kids. Boo truly cared for them. He proved to the neighborhood that he was not a creeper or a stalker, but he was actually a hero.

I believe this book teaches us some important lessons. We see what the power of equality is and the different tiers of people in this world. The power of equality is seen when Tom Robinson is convicted on what is two uneducated people's testimony. There is no evidence and the stories do not really add up to each other, yet Tom is still convicted. The only reason Tom was convicted was because of his skin color. The only advantage the Ewell's had in the trial was that they were white. It is a good thing that this nation has come a long way since then, and we look at each other as equal. There will always be inequality in this world, but we are able to minimize it better than we used to.

We also see how there are different tiers of people in this novel. The people on top do not have to be rich, but most of them are people in high standing in the community. Then it trickles down to the farmers, then to what is essentially the white trash, then to the different races of people. It is a sad reality, but this will never change, only the people in the different tiers will change. There are different tiers today like the different races of people can be anywhere in the tiers, but the concept and the meat of the idea is still the same. Of course the rich people will be on top, then the people that make an honest living, then the people that are collecting welfare. Not everybody is equal in this world. This nation has come to accept different races of people, but we still are divided in many ways.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" shows how far this country has come, but it also makes us realize how far we still have to go. It shows how anyone can be a hero, and that equality should be the backbone of this nation.

Part 1 of To Kill A Mockingbird

This book just reminds me of the good ol' days; running all around the neighborhood and just having fun. Excluding the part of being in trouble for going into the first grade already knowing how to read. Last time I checked, if you were able to read going into the 1st grade, that was a good thing. Scout is just a regular 1st grader that is way ahead of her peers in academics. She can read and write already, so she is either going to get bored of school one day and drop out or she is going to do extraordinary things through her schoolwork and on throughout her life. Scout is a very interesting character in this novel, but the character I find most interesting is Boo Radley.

Boo Radley is the crazy hermit who just lives down the street. He never comes out of his house and he is supposedly a total nut case. The man stabbed his father with a pair of scissors! That sounds an awful lot like something that Michael Myers did in Halloween. Nobody ever sees him, but he always seems to see other people. Like when Scout and Jem find the soap in the tree. The soap was carved to resemble themselves. One of the women in the neighborhood also claimed that they saw him looking in their windows. He even put a blanket on Scout during the fire. Boo is also putting gum and a wide assortment of things in the tree for Scout and Jem to take. To me, this just makes him sound like a total child molester trying to lure children to his home. I mean he is so obvious that I do not know why he doesn't just park a creeper van outside of an elementary school and "sell" ice cream to the little boys and girls that are passing by and want to come into his van to get it. Who knows, maybe this guy will turn out really nice at the end of the novel or something, but for now, he just seems like a total weirdo and a creeper to me.

The friendship between Jem, Scout, and Charles Baker Harris (a.k.a. Dill) is very strong. Scout and Jem just find him sitting behind a bush one day then they become best friends. This is why I believe friendship is one of the themes of this novel. This group is inseparable during the summer, until Dill has to leave to go to school, only to return once again the next summer. They re-enact plays and movies, and they eventually try to lure out Boo Radley. Even though Jem is a good three years older than Dill and four years older than his sister, he still loves to play with them. There is nothing that will come between this group of friends.

So far, we are halfway through the book. I have found it interesting so far, so I cannot wait to find out how this book ends. I know the second part is like the Scottsboro trials, but I will have to wait and see how the book ends.

A Separate Peace Blog

It must have been a weird thing knowing that you are going to school just so you could eventually be sent to war. Most people would join just so they would not be drafted into the infantry. Even in this matter you were picking your own poison because no area of the armed forces was a safe area during World War II, and really there is no safe area in the armed forces today. This is why I liked Phineas' philosophy in "A Separate Peace". His philosophy was there is no war and there has never been war. All the "fat guys in suits" make up war to keep people on their toes. Of course Phineas knew this was not true, but he tricked his mind into believing this so he would not look at the current situation as a bad one. Phineas was a very positive individual. He even looked at his crippled leg in a positive way.

My favorite character in the novel would of course be Phineas. He tries to overcome an injury and he looks at his situation very positively. He was a very good leader for the rest of the boys. From starting a new sport in Blitzball, to starting a winter carnival, to organizing the boys for an event like a snowball fight, Phineas was just an excellent leader all around that everybody naturally followed. He is also a great friend to Gene and he never tries to make enemies. Phineas was also a smooth talker and could get out of any trouble. (This is a very good trait to have in everyday life). It was so tragic the way Phineas died. It just seemed to happen so fast. In Gene's case, Phineas is a friend he can never replace.

We see an amazing friendship between Phineas and Gene in the novel and that is why I believe the theme of this novel is nothing can come between friends and true friends can forgive each other for anything. We see this happen when Phineas forgives Gene for shaking the tree branch when Phineas is in the Infirmary for yet another fall which breaks his leg. When Phineas was injured the first time, I believe Gene did become a part of him. Phineas wanted the best for Gene like the idea how he wanted Gene to be in the '44 Olympics. Phineas wanted Gene to take up the sports in which he could no longer be a part of. Gene may have thought that Phineas was only trying to be better than him, but in the end, he understood that Phineas was a true friend to him and that he would never have another friend like him.

The Crucible Blog

So let's just all play the blame game here. That is all that seemed to happen in "The Crucible" which takes place during the Salem Witch Trials. It was like a bunch of kids blaming each other for who actually broke the window. Once a person was blamed of being a witch, of course they could not let the opportunity pass, so they blamed another person of being a witch. This just kept going on and on until it seemed like everyone had some part to do in it. Then there were the smart people I guess you could say like Mr. Putnam who would blame people so he could buy up their land, or the people who blamed others to get even in a personal feud between each other. The situation was a mess and Danforth and Hathorne really did not improve it with the hangings of the convicted. Where is Judge Judy when you need her?

I believe that the theme and generally the moral of this story is that one little lie can start a snowball of lies. We see this when the girls start lying about how some of the women in the town are witches. They may think nothing of it at the time, but most of these women end up hanging in the end. These little lies snowball and everyone in the whole town is lying and blaming someone of being a witch. We have heard the idea how a little white lie can turn into a bunch of other lies thousands of times, but "The Crucible" really takes that idea full circle. Almost 20 people died from the lying of some young girls. This situation was stupid and ridiculous and you cannot hardly even believe that it is a true story as you read it.

I find it amazing that Abigail could live with herself after blaming so many innocent people and starting this whole thing. She was the only person who I believe should have been hung. The situation of blaming would never have started if she would not have started naming off people who she claimed were witches at Betty's bedside. This then started the other girls to start naming people and so on. She also blamed Proctor's wife just so she could be with Proctor and take the place of his wife. Abigail even stabbed herself in the chest with a needle to prove her point that Proctor's wife had a "poppet" that she used to torture her.

One thing I do not get though in this novel is why the person would live if they confessed. You would think they would be hung if they confessed, not let off the hook. I know that today, if you confess to a crime, you will get a little lesser of a punishment, but you will not get off the hook entirely. I guess I could see though why that is because if you confessed, your name would be tarnished forever. A tarnished name back then was just as bad as hanging or being dead in that matter, so confessing would probably be punishment enough, but I still do not understand this reasoning.

In all, this was a book that taught a good lesson. Lying is never a good thing.

The Scarlet Letter Blog

This book by Nathaniel Hawthorne was quite interesting in my opinion and I believe it was loaded with symbols. From the rose bush to the scarlet letter itself, almost everything was a symbol in this book. The two symbols I found most interesting, though, was the scarlet letter A that Hester Prynne had to wear and Hester's daughter Pearl. I believe these two things are symbols for what is generally the same idea.

Both Pearl and the scarlet letter represented the terrible crime Hester had committed. The fact that she was an adulterer for having a child with a man who was not her husband. I believe that Pearl was a much more substantial symbol of the crime to Hester and for good reason. An A on your chest can be a little humiliating if everyone knows what is stands for, but I am sure you could get used to it after a little while, but Pearl was a living, breathing version of what the letter stood for. Hester had to wear the letter on her clothing forever, but from her standpoint you could take it off at any time and anybody who was not up with the situation had no idea of your crime. There is no getting rid of a person that is your daughter. She will be there for the rest of your life, so that is why Hester could never truly escape from the scarlet letter's clutches until she was no longer around her daughter. Do not get me wrong, Hester loved her daughter, but I believe she wished she would have had her under different circumstances.

The time in which this novel takes place also has to do with a major part of the story line. In the times today, Hester would not have gone to prison for having a kid with a man who was not her husband. Sure she would have probably gotten a divorce, but the only rule breaking she was taking place in was breaking one of the ten commandments, not breaking any state or national laws. Generally speaking this is not an uncommon thing today, not saying it is right or anything, but the whole community would not have looked down upon her today. I do not believe her punishment back then would have been so severe if she was a man, either. When you hear stories of back then, you never hear stories of women cheating on their husbands. It is always vice versa even if that, you never really do hear stories of anybody cheating on anybody from that time period. Women from that period are portrayed as always staying in the house, taking care of the kids, cooking, and cleaning. This was a very uncommon thing that Hester did especially for a woman. In the long run, I guess it would have been different if she got married to the minister before she had her kid because she had all the right in the world to believe her husband was dead after he had not shown up and she wanted to move on.

When Hester returns from Europe, she still wears the scarlet letter. I believe it really has lost it's symbolism because Hester is no longer with her daughter. He daughter was the solid force binding her to that letter. Once the daughter was gone, it was just something that was pinned to her clothing.

The Great Gatsby Blog

F. Scott Fitzgerald has made a real masterpiece here. Out of all the books so far, I think I liked this one best and not because it was only 180 pages and not 500 pages. We see in this novel the sad truth that if you are popular it does not necessarily mean that the people you are around really like you, though. This book was very interesting as well from when Nick Carraway goes over to Tom and Daisy's house at the start of the novel to how Tom is cheating on Daisy to the funeral of Jay Gatsby at the end of the novel. It had quite an interesting twist in the ending because I do not believe that anybody was guessing that Gatsby was going to die. This is why the character I found most interesting was of course Jay Gatsby since you could say he was the most important person in the novel.

Gatsby is a rich man who throws huge parties every weekend, and people show up who he has no idea who they are. His life is full of mysteries of what his actual business is to why he is friends with the man who rigged the World Series. His name it not even Jay Gatsby. Even still, the most interesting thing about him in this novel is his love of Daisy Buchanan. After five years apart, he still pursues after her even though she is married. He even dies because of Daisy since she actually ran over Mrs. Wilson, not him. In my opinion, I wish Gatsby would have won over and gotten Daisy because Tom did not love her. He had a mistress in Mrs. Wilson. Tom did not even seem to care for his wife until Gatsby showed feelings for her. I believe Gatsby was a good man that deserved better in life. He had everything a man could dream for except the love and his life and he died without her.

I believe there are many themes in this novel, but the one that stood out to me the most is what I said earlier in this blog. Even though you throw the best parties and you seem to be the most popular person there ever could be, it does not mean that people like you and care for you. You see this with Gatsby's funeral. Only his true friend, Nick Carraway, shows up along with Gatsby's father, that is all. Gatsby's parties attracted hundreds of people who would stay at his house for countless hours and none of those people showed up for his funeral. Not even his true love, Daisy, shows up to his funeral. I think this is really sad. Gatsby really leaves a lasting impression on Nick that he will never forget in this novel. Gatsby was just a man looking to rekindle the love he once had with Daisy and sadly he dies trying.

Grapes of Wrath Blog

I believe "The Grapes of Wrath" shows us how hard life really can be. We think of life back then as simple, but this novel really contradicts that with the story of the Joad's and people who moved out of the "Dust Bowl" in general. Having to move around everywhere just to work for next to nothing was the only way the Joad's were able to survive. This would be a terrible way to live, but every farmer seemed to have to do this. Nobody liked the "Okies" in California and we see how terribly they are treated from the mean cops to the crooked car salesmen to the people who want to pay the workers two and a half cents for a box of peaches that were picked. The conditions for the workers were terrible, but they made it through it somehow.

The character I find most interesting in the novel is Jim Casy. At the start of the novel, he is a man who is lost I guess you could say. He is trying to make sense of his situation of not being a preacher anymore and he is looking for answers of if his actions of when he was a preacher were right. Towards the end of the novel, I believe Jim Casy has found himself. He knows that he should organize the workers and he dies for that purpose. Jim Casy is such an inspiring man that he leads Tom Joad to do the same job he was attempting to do when he was killed, organize the workers. Jim Casy was very inspiring and a good leader to the workers and to Tom Joad. Jim Casy was a hero to the "Okies".

I believe the theme of this novel is how a group of people, specifically the people from the "Dust Bowl" that moved to California, must adjust to their surroundings in order to survive. If they do not adjust, they and their family have no chance for survival because there will be no money for food or a sufficient living space. People moved from Oklahoma because the bad conditions for crops contributed to them losing their farms to the banks. They thought conditions would be better in California, but they were not. You could describe every possible job opportunity as a riot in California because so many people needed jobs. This is why you could say the theme of the novel is having the perseverance to adjust to the California way and finding a job.