Freshman Should Continue to Read To Kill A Mockingbird

Are you one of the thirty million people that have read to Kill a Mockingbird? To Kill a Mockingbird is a story from a little girl perspective, whose father is a lawyer. Harper Lee based the story out of a small southern town called Maycomb.  She wanted to show readers that you don’t know  or don’t understand what a person is going through until you walk around in their skin.  Freshmen should continue to read “To Kill A Mockingbird”,  it shows many  life lessons they may not get anywhere else. The story shows that racism is a true problem, regardless of the thoughts of others.  It also depicts the importance of doing the right thing in difficult situations. Those two topics are what many teenagers are confronted with as they grow up.

Regarding the topic of racism, To Kill A Mockingbird demonstrates that people are treated differently based on the color of their skin. When Scout and Jem’s mother died Atticus hired Calpurnia. When Aunt Alexandra came and stayed with the Finch family, she tried to convince Atticus to fire Calpurnia because the kids didn’t need a black woman as a  mother figure. “I don’t think the children’ve suffered one bit from her having brought the, up. If anything, she’s been harder on them in some ways than a mother would have been… she’s never let them get away with anything, she’s never indulged them the way most colored nurses do. She tried to bring them up according to her lights, and Cal’s lights are pretty good- and another thing, the children love her” (183). Another example of the racism that was occurring in Maycomb was Mr. Raymond. Nobody cared for him because he cheated on his fiance with a black woman, and ended up having mixed babies (Chapter 20). They don’t look at him the way they do everybody else because of who he loves. The jury found Tom Robinson guilty because it was a black man’s word against a white woman, even though it was not physically possible for Tom to hurt Mayella the way she was. Tom Robinson’s left arm was shorter than a regular arm, and it didn’t have enough strength to lift on it’s own it needed another hand. Mayella had bruises on her right side meaning that the person guilty of the crime had to use his or her left hand (282).

Another reason why anyone especially freshman should read To Kill A Mockingbird is as follows. Scout, Jem, and Dill show stages of life that every person goes through. Yes not everyone’s father is a lawyer, and not everyone has a black woman as the nanny/housekeeper but everyone goes through puberty. Dill and Jem did not want to include Scout on their plan with Boo Radley because they felt she had not matured like they had. As Jem got older he stood up for other people. Like he told Scout he would beat her butt if she ever was disrespectful to Aunt Alexandra, because she deserved respect. “Now I mean it, Scout, you antagonize Aunty and I’ll-I’ll spank you” (184). Throughout the story Scout and Jem start to realize that the world they live in is not what it seems. Scout and Jem see that not all people are nice. They also realize not everyone treats people equally, especially in Tom Robinson’s case.

Finally,  freshman should read the book To Kill A Mockingbird is that it shows the standards of morals. .  In the Boo Radley situation, it shows that most of the time people have their reasons for staying secluded, or being a mystery. It also shows that using a bunch of cuss words isn’t cool. Even grown adults don’t want to hear people saying those words. Like Uncle Jack sitting Scout down and telling her that he did not want to hear another cuss word come out of her mouth while he was in town. “I’ll be here a week, and I don’t want to hear any words like that while I’m here (105).  Lastly it shows that fighting isn’t the way to go. Just because someone says something about you or your family doesn’t mean it’s time to start throwing punches. Like Cecil Jacobs, “My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that n****r oughta hang from a water-tank. (102). “Scout’s a cow-ward!” ringing in my ears. It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight. Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down (102). Atticus first gets on Scout for fighting people, but then he also talks to Jem. Kids, and even adults were calling Atticus a N lover because he was defending Tom Robinson. Without them even knowing the reason why he decided to defend Tom Robinson they started treating him differently, calling him names and creating mobs. Which is something that also happens in many schools.

These examples are why freshmen should continue to read To Kill A Mockingbird. It's a great book full of lessons. It covers racism, right from wrong, and shows kids what everyone goes through during puberty. All of these things are important to students that aren’t really sure who to follow in life. So if you are one of the thirty million people who read this book, and you feel like freshmen should continue to read To Kill A Mockingbird;  give it to your children, neighbors, or other family members so they can learn those important lessons to help them in their life.