To+Kill+A+Mockingbird+Essay

In the city of Maycomb in the 1930's, people were very different than how they are today. People were very racist and just downright cruel to people, only based off of their skin tone. In the famous novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", by Harper Lee, this is image is portrayed very well. You feel like you're going back in time, and seeing these entire prejudice acts take place. One of the characters, Boo Radley, is talked about a lot in this book. He is portrayed as the "bad guy" to the city of Maycomb.

"People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people's azaleas froze in the cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes commited in Maycomb were his fault."(pg.9) All throughout the book, Boo is portrayed as someone-or something, like this, when he is actually just a regular man. He never hurt anyone, except when protecting other people, and mainly just wanted to be left alone and mind his own business.

Another character, Tom Robinson, who is another big character in the book, is a black man who has been charged with assault and rape of a white woman. At his trial, the prosecutor says this when Tom explains that he has been doing/fixing things for Mayella (the woman he supposedly assualted and raped) "You're a mighty good fellow, it seems you did all this for not one penny?"(pg.197) As the trial goes on, you realize that Tom Robinson is actually a wonderful, good hearted man, and didn't commit any of the crimes that he was charged with. Unfortunately, even though everyone knew that Tom was innocent, he was charged guilty on all counts because of his race. Tom is a lot like a mockingbird, because all he ever wanted to do was his own thing, and as the kind hearted gentleman that yhe was, help out a lonely woman once in a while.

In this book, you realize how much different children's concept of right and wrong is versus an adult's concept. In this quote, "How could they do it, how could they?" "I don't know, but they did it. They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep. Good night." (pg 213) This explains that children see things so much differently than adults do. Children see bad things taking place and cry and talk/whine about how horrid and wrong it is, when adults just accept it and moved on, because that's the way things are and they're used to it.

In conclusion, you see how many things that happen are just plain wrong, but that's the way it is. Like I said before, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are a lot like mockingbirds, they do good deeds for people and expect nothing in return. Also, I think that adults should sit back and try to think from a child's perspective on certain things, and remember what those emotions felt like. They need to see how cruel this world is sometimes, and remember that everyone deserves to be treated fair and equally.