Good and Evil in To Kill a Mockingbird, By Emeline Wu

Summary:

To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb County in Alabama. We meet Jean Finch or Scout, the main character and her family and friends. There is her father, Atticus, her brother, Jem, her friend Dill who came to visit his aunt for the summer, Calpurnia their cook, and Boo Radley. The story begins in the summer with Jem, Scout, and Dill trying to get Boo Radley to come out. Boo Radley was a man who stayed inside the Radley house and never came out for mysterious reasons. Summer ends, Dill leaves, and school starts. Scout's first day at school isn't good; she is punished for things she didn't know she wasn't supposed to do. One day, walking home from school, Scout finds some gum in a tree on the Radley's property. To valuable pennies are found int he same spot the last day of school.

Summer comes along and Dill is back. They attempt to send a note to Boo through a window, but they fail when Atticus catches them and tells them not to bother Boo anymore. They try to take a look at Boo through a window, but cannot when Mr. Radley shoots at them. When school begins again, Jem and Scout find carvings of soap and gum in the Radley tree. They find the hole in the tree filled with cememnt when they try to send a thank-you note to whoever is sending them gifts.

When Atticus takes up the job of defending a black man in court, Scout starts a fight with a classmate and Scout's cousin when they call her father some offensive names. She asks her dad about it and he says that he is defending a man named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell's daughter. On night, Scout finds Dill hiding under her bed. He ran away from home and is now allowed to stay in Maycomb for a couple more weeks. Tom's trial is approaching and he is moved to the Maycomb jail. The three sneaks out of the house one night and they find Atticus reading outside the jail. Seconds after the kids arrived, some men came to the jail and demanded that Atticus let them into the jail to hurt Tom. But Scout pops out from hiding and talks to the men. They feel ashamed and leave.

Tom's trial begins and the whole town is in the courthouse. Atticus proves that Tom didn't do anything to her, but a black man has never won a trial against a white man and even though it is obvious that Tom is innocent, the jury delivers a guilty verdict. Atticus thought they could still win, but Tom was doubtful and died when he was shot by guards in a prison trying to stop him from escaping.

Bob Ewell won, but Atticus made him look like a fool and one night when Jem and Scout are walking home alone, he attacks them. Luckily, Boo Radley saves them and kills Bob. Scout finally gets to see Boo and everyone is alright.

515 words

Reflection:
The triumph of evil over good is a theme shown throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson was obviously innocent, but because he is black, the jury concluded that he was guilty. He never raped or hurt Mayella Ewell as he was accused of doing. She was the one who had tried to kiss Tom, and for that, her father had beaten her. Tom Robinson was victimized and he did nothing to deserve something like this. The men who made up the jury all knew the truth, but the good in them was overcome by racial prejudice. In this case, the evil of racism defeated good.

Arthur (Boo) Radley is another symbol of good being hurt by evil. Scout goes to Miss Maudie to talk about Boo Radley and she clears up some neighborhood myths and tells Scout that he was always a nice boy. "'Arthur Radley just stays in the house, that's all,' said Miss Maudie. 'Wouldn't you stay in the house if you didn't want to come out?'" Scout asks why he wouldn't want to come out and Miss Maudie implies that his father did some things to him that hurt him so badly that he wouldn't want to come out anymore. "'"He shoud be (crazy) by now. The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets . . .'" Arthur was wrecked by his father and, like Tom Robinson, he did nothing to recieve any kind of harsh treatment. He is victimized once again when his only link to the outside world is harshly cut off by his brother. Boo Radley was able to reach out to two children, Jem and Scout. But his brother, Nathan Radley, finds out about the tree and cements it closed for good.

"'Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'" Boo Radley and Tom Robinson were the main mockingbirds of the book. Their stories show how the evil in man can destroy the good. Through the book, we watch Jem and Scout grow up. They are children, innocent and good, and through their summers and years, they find the corruption in the world. They find out that, even in their small town, there is evil in people. It is a hard lesson to learn for them, especially for Jem. After seeing Tom Robinson's trial, he sees the world as a horrible place and man as evil beings. I think that the author wanted us to learn what Scout had learned. The author wants us to realize that people are neither good nor evil, but that they are both and the best thing to do it to see things through other's perspectives. At the end of the book, Scout and readers can see the world that Atticus sees. While Atticus is tucking her into bed, she tells him about the story they just read. She says that the misunderstood character was actually "real nice." He tells her, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."

517 words

The Pearl

The Pearl begins in the home of Kino, his wife, Juana, and their baby, Coyotito. They live in a brush house on the Gulf of Mexico. We learn about songs that Kino hears in everything like the Song of the Family. The morning peace is disrupted when their son is bitten by a scorpion. Juana sucks the poison out but sends for a doctor. Although the doctor is called, he doesn’t come because “the doctor never came to the cluster of brush houses.” When they go to ask for the doctors themselves, he refuses to see him because they have no money. In order to pay the doctor, Kino dives for pearls in hope to find and sell some. As he dives, he hears the Song of the Undersea. He picks a big oyster and when he opens it, he finds the Pearl of the World. “It was as large as a sea-gull’s egg.”
Kino tells people that he’s going to use the pearl to give Coyotito an education so he could help his people. The priest comes and speaks to the family about the pearl and afterwards the doctor comes and warns Kino what will happen to the baby. After seeing the doctor, the baby gets better. That night, Kino is hurt when he stops a thief from taking the pearl. Although Juana thinks the pearl is evil, Kino will not give it up.
The next day, Kino goes to sell the pearl. The pearl buyers try to trick him into selling the pearl for less than it’s worth, but he sees through the trickery. He decides to sell the pearl at the capital. After consulting his brother on his decision, he is attacked at night again. They still have the pearl, but Juana believes it will destroy them. In the morning, Kino catches Juana trying to throw the pearl out to sea and stops her. On the way back to the brush house, another man comes to steal the pearl, and Kino kills the man when protecting himself. Now the family must run before the people of the town come after him. They plan to take all their belongings and sail away. But their house and possessions are burning and the canoe has holes drilled into it. They hide in Kino’s brother’s home and then hike north to try to find a safe place the next day.
The family finds that there are men following them. They try to lose the trackers, but the men always seem to find them. One night, Kino decides the only way to get away is to kill the trackers. Juana and Coyotito hide in a cave while Kino crawls to the tracker’s campsite. Kino is right next to the men, when the baby cries out. Thinking it was a baby wolf, one of the trackers shot it to stop the crying. Kino tries to stop the gun from going off and kills all three men. But he is too late and Coyotito dies.
When Kino and Juana come back to the village of brush houses, they throw the pearl into the sea.
My Response:
Throughout The Pearl, there are many examples of Kino’s people, a native culture being, oppressed. When Coyotitio gets bitten by the scorpion and the doctor is called, he doesn’t come. The doctor says, “‘Have I nothing better to do than cure insect bites for ‘little Indians’? I am a doctor, not a veterinary.’” when Kino and Juana asked the butler to bring the doctor. Calling the natives animals showed the lack of respect the doctor and “the rich people who lived in the stone and plaster houses of the town” had for the native people. They, including Kino, were trapped because of their lack of knowledge. The people in the town were taking advantage of them. For example, when the priest came to Kino’s home, he told him things that he didn’t know were true or not. The priest said to Kino, “thou art named after a great man – and a great Father of the Church . . . It is in the books.” Kino couldn’t know if he was really telling him the truth. When the doctor came to see the baby, he told Kino and Juana about what could happen to the baby if Coyotito were not treated. “He did not know, and perhaps this doctor did. And he could not take the chance of putting his certain ignorance against this man’s possible knowledge. He was trapped as his people were always trapped, and would be until, as he had said, they could be sure that the things in the books were really in the books.” This is why the pearl is so important to Kino. The pearl was going to set his people free. The rich people who lived in the town could easily trick and control Kino and his village because they knew things that the natives didn’t. When he shows the village his pearl, Kino says, “ ‘My son . . . will make us free because he will know – he will know and through him we will know.”
When the pearl dealers tried to cheat by saying that the pearl was not worth anything because it was a fake, Kino is outraged. He knew that the pearl was worth a great deal and it was the way he was going to liberate he and his people. To try to cheat Kino out of selling the pearl for its value was like cheating Kino and his village out of their freedom. Although the native people knew their land, they didn’t know how to read, to write, to do math, or any of the things they needed to know in order to live in the town. Like the rest of his people, Kino lives in a brush house while the doctor has a servant and other luxuries because they knew more about the things “in the books”.
The Pearl shows us what happens to an oppressed native culture. They are taken advantage of and exploited. While discussing Kino’s pearl, one of the natives said, “. . . all of us have been cheated all of our lives.”

Malcolm X By Any Means Necessary

In Malclom X By Any Means Necessary, by Walter Dean Myers, we are shown how Malcolm Little grew up and became Malcolm X. On May 19, 1925, Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm’s father, Earl Little, wanted to “help his people gain their independence, and to help African-Americans everywhere to reach their full potential.” Influenced by the ideas of Marcus Garvey, a black leader, Earl Little fought for the rights of African-Americans. By speaking out, Earl Little spread his message. Because he spoke out about his beliefs, he was always threatened by racists and others who disagreed. When Malcolm was four, the Little family moved into Lansing, Michigan. But whites there did not want him and his family in their neighborhood. They took this to court, but when Earl Little decided to stay in the house, the house was set on fire and burnt down. Because of this, they moved into East Lansing, Michigan. But he was still getting threats and moved again. Then on September 28, 1931, Malcolm’s father died. He had been run over by a trolley. The conductor claimed to not have seen him, but Malcolm’s mother, Louise, believed he was killed by whites who did not want him to spread his beliefs about blacks.
America was in the middle of a depression when Malcolm’s father had died. Jobs were scarce and single mother Louise was having a very hard time providing for her family. Malcolm had to face poverty at the young age of six. He was teased at school because of his old clothes. He would go hungry some days because they had no money. Malcolm was good in school, and realized that he was bright. But at home, things were not going well. All the stress was taking a toll on his mother. She began to cry for no reason or talk to herself. When social workers came to their home, they found his mother to be an “unfit mother.” She was taken away from her children and they were put into foster homes. Malcolm was still doing very well in school. He was at the top of his classes and was elected as class president in the 8th grade. But one day, his teacher asked what Malcolm wanted to be when he grew up. He told his teacher that he wanted to be a lawyer. Instead of supporting this idea, his teacher said, “. . . you’ve got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer – that’s no realistic goal for a nigger.” Although Malcolm knew that blacks were not expected to succeed, he thought that if he could work hard and get good grades that he could still make it. But talking with his teacher changed his mind. He went to live with his half-sister, Ella, in Boston.
Malcolm loved the excitement in Boston, and this is where he found himself a new image. With the help of his new friend, Shorty, he got his first zoot suit and a conk. Since he had dropped out of school, he was able to have a job as a shoeshine boy, a clerk in a drugstore, a busboy, and, with the help of one of Ella’s friend, a kitchen helper on the railroad. Because of Malcolm’s kitchen helper job, he was able to see different cities, including Harlem. Malcolm felt at home in Harlem’s black community. It was in Harlem where he felt that he could earn respect. But he started to use drugs. When his drugs got him into trouble with New York gangs, he moved back to Boston. There, he and a couple of his friends started to rob houses. But they were caught and Malcolm was sentenced to eight to ten years of hard labor. He was put in the Charlestown State Prison. He learned about an experimental prison reform plan that was being conducted at an institution in Norfolk, Massachusetts. He was accepted and found that Norfolk had an excellent library. From letters that he received from his relatives, he found out about the Nation of Islam.
The Nation of Islam was not just a religion. It was a movement. At 23 years old, Malcolm Little converted and wrote a letter to the head of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad. In Elijah’s reply, Malcolm was told not to think of himself as a criminal, but to think of the whites who had forced you into the acts you have committed as the criminals. When Malcolm was released from prison in 1952, he found a job at a furniture store, lived with his brother, Wilfred, in Detroit, and joined Temple Number One in Detroit. In Chicago, Malcolm saw Elijah Muhammad for the first time. After the meeting, Elijah invited him and other members to his home. They decided to try to recruit the young people in the area. After attending meeting and listening to the teachings of ministers, Malcolm Little fully understood the beliefs of the Nation of Islam. He had full membership and now, he had the right to drop his “slave name” and assume the last name of “X.” The “X” stood for his unknown, lost African name. This is how Malcolm Little became Malcolm X.
In 1954 Malcolm becomes the minister of New York Temple Number Seven and, four years later, marries Sister Betty X. Thanks to Malcolm, the Nation of Islam was growing rapidly. However, the growth proved to be too much for the structure to handle. Conflicts between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm arose. So in 1964, Malcolm announced his split from the Nation of Islam.
After making the sacred hajj, Malcolm changed his message, he was willing to work with all races, as long as they were sincere in their efforts to help African-Americans gain freedom.
But during one of Malcolm’s speeches, in February of 1965, he was shot. A year later, it was found that Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler, and Thomas 15X Johnson had assassinated Malcolm X.
My Response:
Although I believe that Malcolm X was right, and African-Americans should be given their freedom, I do not agree with his methods. I can see it is hard to just stand by and watch “their women and children being beaten and killed,” but if you use violence to end violence, nothing gets solved. I understand that it is hard to let someone push you down without kicking him back, but if you do the same thing that he is doing, you’re no better of a person. I think if Malcolm X had followed the kindergarten rule, two wrongs don’t make a right, people would have been more supportive and his message would have gotten through a little better. Martin Luther King Jr. used tactics that created “enormous sympathy for the black cause throughout the world,” and this increased “moral pressure on American legislators to pass and enforce the new civil rights laws.” I know that Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X had the same goal. Both wanted to give their people the rights they deserved. However, their ideas and methods were different. I cannot say that I completely agree with Malcolm’s ideas, but I do believe that American would not be what it is today without Malcolm X.

Anne Frank's Persevering Attitude

While reading the book, The Diary of a Young Girl, one forgets it is a diary of a thirteen year old. Anne Frank, a Jewish girl, tells us about her family, friends, and thoughts. She shows us her true feelings towards others. After receiving the diary for her birthday, she started writing in it right away and named it Kitty. For the first month, things seem to be going quite well. She had a plenty of friends, boy admirers, and good grades. But, on July 8, 1942, her good life was put on hold as she and her family move into hiding from Nazis. They take refuge in the building that her father’s office is in. They use the third floor of the building as their hiding place, naming it their “Secret Annex”. A couple days later, the Van Daan family, made of Mr. Van Daan, Mrs. Van Daan, and their son, Peter Van Daan, joins them in the “Secret Annex”. At first Anne welcomes their arrival; she is tired of the silence. But as quarrels arise, Anne wishes she could get away for a little while. As a dentist named Dussel arrives, things do not seem to get any better.
The crowded space takes a toll on everyone. Imagine, being trapped with people you cannot stand, who constantly point out your faults, even when it seems like it is completely untrue. Although she is deeply hurt on the inside, she shows no signs of it to others. What amazes me is how Anne seems to keep calm, or does not let anybody know of her anger. In a diary entry on January 30, 1943, Anne writes, “I’m boiling with rage, and yet I mustn’t show it . . . I can’t let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn’t bear their sympathy and their kindhearted jokes, it would only make me want to scream all the more.” I think writing her thoughts into the diary helped in some way. Without a person to listen to her troubles, Kitty was the closest thing to a friend.
It seems like the adults are the source of Anne’s despair. But as I read on, I also wonder what the adults are thinking. Do they think what they are doing is right? Are they just taking out their frustration on Anne? It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s possible that Anne has over exaggerated. I’m sure being cut off from the world, having to stay with the same people everyday, and dealing with endless would drive anyone mad.
Despite the cruel remarks and regular insults, Anne keeps going. As we read more of Anne’s diary, I have a feeling that she will keep up her cheerful attitude and I look forward to reading how she does so.