English essay!!! Finally!!!

So here is my English essay... Yes, I did it... Finally! I got it over with.... I hope I don't fail like last time (I don't remember if I published my Study in Scarlet one here or not).... I'm glad I finished it today and I'm proud of what I've done... It's not my best, I know....

In the book “To kill a Mockingbird” the reader discovers the world of justice, prejudice, empathy, stereotypes and ignorance through the eyes of a young girl called Scout. Her and her brother Jem are forced to grow up in a very hypercritical community where you are judged upon your appearance and not who you are inside. This essay is going to talk about stereotypes and ignorance towards two innocent people, the ‘mockingbirds’ of the book.

At the beginning of the story we find out about Boo (Arthur) Radley. Scout describes him being “about six-and-a half feet tall”. She says that “he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained – if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time”.  As the story continues we discover that Boo is the Bogeyman of Maycomb. Legends and rumours are passed on around the community. “A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked.” This shows us that even the children were afraid of him.

Scout’s attitude towards Arthur doesn’t change until the end of the book. When Boo ‘jumps out’ to save the children, Scout realizes how ignorant she was before. She could have never thought that the ‘bogeyman’ could be an honest person who has feelings and who could risk his own life for the sake of others.

As the story continues, the reader discovers that Tom Robinson, a black man, was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a young white woman. Even though the Ewells were very poor and were not highly respected in Maycomb, the jury still accuses Tom.

Scout’s father, Atticus is defending the man. He wants to prove the judgmental community that the person’s skin colour doesn’t reflect on their personality. The quote “Yes, suh. I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em.” shows us that Tom, as any other person, has the ability to experience pity for others, no matter what race or religion they are. The people in the crowd were shocked by that statement because all of them were taught that “[…] all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immortal beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around women.” The statement shows us that the Maycomb community was very stereotypical to black people.

This essay shows that different communities have different attitudes towards certain people. Both, Arthur and Tom, were judged upon their appearance and not their personality. The society of Maycomb would rather insult the person because of their skin colour or habits then accept them the way they are. Scout grows up to understand that no matter how different the person is from the others, you should get to know them before judging them and not be ignorant.