To Kill A Mockingbird

Author's Note:  This is my response to the prompt:   What do you make of the setting and how does it differ from your childhood?   Please look for my voice and expression toward the prompt.

Each Summer is every kid's mental break time, every adults time of stress, and no different then every day to the elderly.  Combining these three classes of people and sticking them all in one neighborhood changes each groups perspective of the season.  They each have an effect on each other.  For example, in the story, Scout, Dill, and Jem try to get Boo Radley out of his house.  This small activity gave the kids a day of fun, gave the adults about an hour of stress, ad gave the elderly a good scare.  Everything that anyone does in that neighborhood impacts everyone in it.

My subdivision is just like this one.  It has 4 kids excluding my family.  It is filled with men and women who are all retired or have been working for...a while.   Scout and Jem have a lot of land, so they have more room to be themselves, but my house isn't very far away from the edge of my neighbor's.  There is, however, a benefit to being in a subdivision with only a few kids.  You appreciate more.  What I mean by this is that the few children that me and my siblings have to play with, will be our friends forever.  The less playmates you have, the easier it is to get close to the ones that you do have.  Scout and Jem have this sort of relationship toward Dill in the book.  The setting of the story is very similar to my own home and I think that I really can relate to this part of the book because of it.


3/10/11  To Kill A Mockingbird Response

Author's Note:  Although I had troubles with this response, not really knowing which direction I was going in, I eventually decided to write about the difference between the opinions at the time of Tom Robinson's trial.  Please let me know if there was any unnecessary information or if there was a spot that I could have distilled further. 

Scout and Jem sat quietly watching their father in admiration.  It wasn't that they held any disrespect for anyone else, Atticus had taught them better than that. They knew he was a good lawyer and had watched him win many cases, but this one was difference.  It had no connection to their own lives, but they didn't care.  Unlike everyone else they weren't there because they had to be, because they supported the Ewells, or because they were there for Tom.  Although Scout didn't understand half of the words and phrases being used during the trial she could make out everything that was going on in a way similar to her father's way of getting into people's mind's.  By looking deep into their emotions and picking out what the next words to come out of their mouth would be.  She was able to do this and predict what everyone's next move would be, except her father's.

Mayella Ewell sat in her chair next to her father.  She watched him speak confidently and looked at him with deep envy.  He was making up things by the second and she would have to match that ability.  Mayella knew she would be called up soon and she was supposed to be listening to her father but her thoughts were elsewhere.  Someone inside her, someone she didn't know, was controlling her.  Building up the words she had heard she had created an image of the evil Atticus Finch.  Once it was finally her turn to go up to the platform she wished she had watched her father closer.  Every move that terrible man made was slowly pushing her limits.  He twisted her words and he made her think hard.  All she wanted to do was impress the jury!  It was all his fault.  Tom Robinson, who's that?  The only thing Mayella could focus on was her hatred for anyone who supported Atticus Finch.

3/16/11  Response to chapters 22, 23 &24

Author's Note: This is my response to chapters 22, 23 & 24.  I decided to wrtie about hwo Jem is starteing to be treated like an adult, and how it affects Scout.  Please tell me if there is any way I could have helped people to understandd my point of the response better.  Or tell me if you understood it yourself.

In the story there is a set time when Jem really grows up, and his maturity is visible to everyone around him.  Taking time to look back in to my own memory, I don't ever remember a certain time when I grew up.  I'm not even sure how much  I've changed mentally that much at all since I was 10.  Jem didn't realize it but after Tom's trial he grew stronger.  During the trial I even felt him change as he guided Scout and Dill away from the adults so they could stay and watch.  His sister had always respected that he was older than her but it was never so obvious until now.

When Miss Maudie invited over Jem to talk with her and Miss Stephanie, she didn't invite along Scout or Dill.  Was this because they weren't supposed to be included in the conversation yet, or because she didn't want them talking at all?  When the two younger kids tagged along anyway, Scout noticed that Jem had graduated from a tiny cake to a slice of the big cake that was always reserved for the adults.  If she was jealous I couldn't tell, I did, however, feel her sadness.  My sister and brother will always have to watch me grow up, and I hope I will be able to understand their feelings.  I have no idea what watching someone you know grow away from you is like, but maybe that can be something that I take away from this book once it is over. 

Final Response


Author's Note:  Now that we have finished To Kill A Mockingbird, we were assigned to write a summative piece on the novel.  I chose to write mine of the possible mental disorder of the notorious Boo Radley.

If you shouted down a hallway or street, "Boo Radley is coming!"  I'm sure you would send at least a few people running.  Harper Lee wrote Boo Radley as a grown man who only comes out at night to steal chickens and terrorize children's nightmares.  He lives down the street from Scout and Jem, alone with his brother.  Rumor has it that he was locked up in the courthouse basement as a young adult to avoid his chances of being sent away.  This was a truamatic event that could have inspired many physical or mental disorders.  One that stood out to me was Schizoid Personality Disorder.

Schizoid personality disorder is found in people who have few close friendships or relationships, and prefer being alone.  These could easily be traits of a misunderstood Boo Radley.  Some other symtoms that relate to him are coming across as dull or cold--which may inspire his look-- or playing a role of a follower verses a leader, like how he lives alone with Mr. Nathan.  In my research I have also found that people with Schizoid's generally have nothing to say, and are sometimes just not in touch with the world.  Maybe Boo Radley wasn't antisocial, he just didn't have an opinion to share ever.  Schizoid personalitly disorder can be genetic, possibly Mr. Radley's fault, or it an be casued by a rough childhood experience, and with all of the gossip spread about Boo, I can almost confirm the diagnosis.

There is, however, a chance that Boo Radley may not have the disorder.  First, he was not checked for Autism, Aspergers, or Schizophrenia.  These too, may be possible conditions of the children's neighbor.  Also, people with Schizoid's disease can take medication to make them feel pleasure, and we know that Boo was not.  The last reason that the disreputable Boo Radley may not have this certain mental disorder is how he helped the children get away from Mr. Ewewll.  This last scene of the book confused so many people with the same theory as me, because Schizoids aren't usually motivated to do anything that does not benefit themselves, so by helping the children he showed a whole new side of him that I didn't knew existed.

Although Harper Lee tried to explain him to us, Mr. Radley is still a mysterious character.  Whether he had the disease or not is pure opinion, and even if people have facts and statements to back themselves up, we will never truly know much about him.  Can you diagnos Boo with Schizoid's or is he just misunderstood?  More importantly, what was Harper Lee trying to tell us by incorporating Boo into her life story?