Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird was released 50 years ago this week (July 11), so I was, like, “What better way to post this than on the book’s 50th anniversary?”
Section 1: Characterization
Atticus Finch is the father of Jem and Scout and the brother of John (Jack) and Alexandra. Since “[i]t was customary for the men in the family to remain on Simon’s homestead” (p. 4), he was the first in the family, along with his brother, to move out of Finch’s Landing, moving to Montgomery to study law. Afterwards, he went back to Maycomb, which is some twenty miles away from Finch’s Landing, and practiced economy for his first five years there. later helping his brother’s education. As the novel’s hero and “glimmer of hope,” he is much older than the other dads, which Jem and Scout are embarrassed about, and is wiser. Although he loves his children, Atticus rarely spends time with them, reading the newspaper when he returns home and even not taking Scout to her first day of school. In his early days, he was known as Ol’ One-Shot for his accurate firearm skills, which Scout and Jem are amazed about since they finally have something about their father to boast about. However, Atticus thinks they get the wrong idea, especially Jem, and when he trashes Mrs. Dubose’s yard, the former forces him to read for her. This is used to show Jem what “real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand” (p 112). Atticicus exemplifies the good moral of the people in Maycomb, believing in what is right, even when he is in the minority. He is a fair lawyer who looks at things from other people’s point-of-views and considers them reasonably, as shown in the courtroom case of Tom Robinson. By the end, he reconnects with his children, being closer to them, instead of just the father who returns home and reads.
Scout Finch is the protagonist of the novel and the daughter of Atticus. When she was two, her mother died of a heart attack, but she does not miss her, so she was raised by Atticus and Calpurnia. Early on in the novel, Scout is like any other young girl, except she is an adventurous, mischievous tomboy. Oblivious to the evils of the world, she is taught good morals early on by Atticus when he tells her a trick to “climb into his skin and walk around in it” (p. 30) to get along with people. Scout is unusual compared to other young girls, though, for being exposed to such mature subject matters and figuratively growing up so quickly at such a young age. Atticus lets her listen to a conversation between him and Uncle Jack about Tom Robinson’s rape trial when she was only seven to reveal to her about the evils of the world. This is the one of the first instances in which Scout begins to experience loss of innocence. Scout is also taught the “mockingbird” theme by Miss Maudie, who says that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because they don’t do anything wrong. In the trial, she is exposed to the immorality of the jurymen unanimously voting Tom, who was innocent, guilty. Her relationship with her brother is loving, though they sometimes get into fist fights, but she is very defensive of him, even attacking a person when Jem, Dill, and she followed Atticus to jail. By the end, she transitions to near adulthood, learning many different, important themes over the course of three years while looking back at the them in retrospect.
Miss Maudie Atkinson is a neighbor that lives across the street from the Finches in Maycomb. Nearly the same age as Uncle Jack, they grew up together at Finch’s Landing, and the latter has a strong affection for her. Her father was Dr. Frank Buford, who was engrossed with plants, which might’ve contributed to her obsession of azaleas and plants. A firm believer in doing what is right, she didn’t attend the hearing of Tom Robinson, feeling that watching “a poor devil on trial for his life” is “like a Roman carnival” (p. 159). She treats Scout, Jem, and Dill as if they are any other person instead of immature kids running around, making them the best cake in the neighborhood. When her house burned down, her reaction was unworrying and ungrieving, showing her bravery to Scout and Jem. She was actually quite satisfied and was only concerned with “all the danger and commotion it caused” (p. 73). Miss Maudie also taught Scout the moral lesson of killing a mockingbird is a sin, that killing someone as innocent as a mockingbird is wrong. She strongly thinks that you shouldn’t take the Bible literally and talks back to “foot-washers” with scriptures from the book. Much like Atticus, she has good morals and a sense of sympathy as well.
Calpurnia is the black cook of the Finch household who grew up from Finch’s Landing and moved to Maycomb with Atticus and his wife after they married. She is sort of the mother of the house since she took care of the children whenever Atticus went to work. Teaching Scout how to read and write, she is considered part of the family by Atticus, who never lets her go despite Aunt Alexandra’s insistence. Like Atticus, she has good morals and believes in doing the right thing. When Scout dismisses Walter Cunngham as a typical Cunngingham instead of a guest, Calpurnia remarks, “[y]o’ folks might be better’n the Cunnighams but it don’t count for nothin’ the way you’re disgracin’ them. . .” (p. 24). This shows that Calpurnia is a disciplinary woman, which makes Scout describe her as having a tyrannical presence. She became part of the family since Jem was born, Scout always had argument with her, though she always lost, mostly because Atticus always sides with her. Scout doesn’t like having argument with her, though, as shown in one instance when Scout submits to Jem’s insistence to spit out the gum she found to avoid a fight with Calpurnia. Calpurnia also took Scout and Jem to a colored church where she talked “in tones I had never heard her use” (p. 119) because it’d seem out-of-place if she didn’t. As a result, Calpurnia is like a bridge between Scout and Jem and the black community.
Section 2: Themes
In the midst of this strange assembly, Atticus stood trying to make Jem mind him. “I ain’t going,” was his steady answer to Atticus’s threats, requests, and finally, “Please, Jem, take them home.” (p. 153)
The theme of loss of innocence/growing up is shown when Jem stands up to Atticus’s demands to go home. He realizes the danger of the situation very clearly and doesn’t back up, wanting to help his father from the threatening men. Of course, Jem and Scout doesn’t understand Atticus or the danger, merely following on the coat tails of Jem. He, however, knows what’s going on, and instead of following his father’s order, he firmly says “no,” unlike what usual children would do for their parents. So, in a way, this represents Jem’s transition to manhood and his loss of innocence. Similarly, Scout experiences a kind of loss of innocence after this particular incident. When they went home, as Scout was about to sleep, “the memory of Atticus calmly folding his newspaper and pushing back his hat became Atticus standing in the middle of an empty street, pushing up his glasses” (p. 156). She cries afterwards, fully understanding the situation, and Jem soothes her by telling that a nine-year-old girl aren’t that brave enough to do what she did. The theme also ties in with the theme of courage since it shows Jem standing up to his father after numerous demands. The foreshadowing displayed is of Tom Robinson and his significance in the later chapters of the novel.
“I wanted you to see something about her—I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.” (p. 112).
The theme of courage is consistent throughout the novel, and one notable instance is when Atticus tells Jem about his purpose for reading to Mrs. Dubose. In the previous chapter, Jem and Scout are amazed by the way Atticus perfectly held that gun and shot the rabid dog with ease. They’re even more surprised that he was once known as “Ol’ One-Shot” for the best shooter of Maycomb. So when Jem trashes Mrs. Dubose’s yard, he is forced to read to her for a month (Scout just tags along). However, when his time is up, he has to read to her for another week, forced again by Atticus. He concedes to this, not yet apprehending the full reason for doing it. When Mrs. Dubose dies, though, and sends him a candy box, Jem cries and Atticus explains the meaning of him reading to her and why. He wanted to show Jem, as described in the quote above, the significance of courage. This foreshadows Jem’s up and coming loss of innocence as he grows and learns lots of mature themes. The quote demonstrates Atticus’s definition of “courage” and what it really is as well.
“But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court.” (p. 205)
The theme of justice makes up the second part of the novel, particularly in the courtroom chapters. The quote above illustrates one of Atticus’s techniques to convince to audience that Tom Robinson is innocent. In fact, the whole case is to bring Tom to justice, which was Atticus’s job. Bob Ewell accuses Tom of raping Mayella Ewell, and the case is brought to court to ensure justice is served. What Atticus means in the quote is that every court can make a simple mistake like any human being. He maintains that courts are imperfect and can possibly have faults in their systems. Using different appeals to try to persuade the jury that Tom did not rape Mayella, Atticus objects to Bob’s accusations and defends a Negro. The quote does not reveal anything about Atticus other than the fact that he has a sense of what’s morally right. There is no foreshadowing done, as the case was right then and there, and there was no hint on what the jurymen were voting on. Atticus’s use of persuasion represents justice through his moral rightness.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—” (p. 30)
The theme of prejudice is a notable one in the novel, whether it’s racial or ethical prejudice. Atticus says the above quote when Scout doesn’t realize why Miss Caroline was afraid of Walter Cunningham. Atticus tells her that she can’t possibly know the ways of Maycomb all in one day, so it was a misunderstanding. Miss Caroline didn’t know of the Cunngham family, so she judged Walter too soon, and it was just a mistake. The quote represents the theme because Atticus explains the prejudgment of Miss Caroline’s actions. In turn, Scout also prejudged Miss Caroline too quickly for knowing everything about Maycomb. So when Atticus says that you don’t understand a person until you climb into his skin, he means to look at things from other people’s points of view and don’t judge people too quickly. This reveals his compassion for others as well as Scout’s lesson in mature subject matters of growing up in the real world. This might’ve foreshadowed the upcoming court case of Tom Robinson since racial prejudice is widely implied in the second part of the novel also. Tom Robinson, a Negro, is convicted of a crime for something he didn’t do and was voted guilty by the jury.
It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain’t right,” he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting.
The theme of understanding/compassion for others is used mostly in the second part of the novel. Tom Robinson is put on trial for something he didn’t do, and Jem feels compassion for him, watching the whole trial from beginning to end. The quote demonstrates Jem’s understanding of doing the right thing and wanting Tom to be voted innocent. It reveals Jem’s morality, his stance against the jury, and his loss of innocence. The theme is also implied during the trial when Mayella testified. Atticus questions about her family and home life, which is lonely and pitiful, so the jurymen can feel compassion for her. Even Scout, who was only nine, understood the concept of Atticus’s techniques and felt sorry for Mayella. Ironically, Tom also understood her harsh life and felt sorry for her, as he blatantly testified it. Compassion is seen in the end of the novel as well when Scout takes Boo Radley home. She used to be afraid of him, even mocking him, but is only shy when she actually sees him face-to-face. However, she realized her compassion for his reclused life and let him take her hand to walk him home.
Section 3: Symbol
The mockingbird is used as a symbol of an innocent person who is destroyed by evil. Tom Robinson is a notable mockingbird in the novel. He is an innocent man who was convicted of raping Mayella Ewell when he never did. Despite Atticus’s attempts at convincing the jury he is innocent, it is futile nonetheless. Tom’s story of the events contradict Bob’s and Mayella’s, having Mayella tempting him instead of him raping her. Mayella was apparently afraid of confessing her guilt of tempting him since it’s a taboo in their society and blames him. Bob, who, of course, saw her tempting him, claims he saw him rape and beat her up, even though he’s the one that did the latter. These two are the evils of Tom’s innocence, accusing him for something that shouldn’t have to be brought up in court in the first place. The jurymen may also be partial evils to his innocence. The facts were laid out in front of them, and although they thought long about their decision, they still voted him guilty. Granted that courts aren’t always perfect, as Atticus pointed out, Negroes were seen as an inferior race to white people back then, and that is probably what most, if not all, the jury voted by. So when he “broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over” (p. 235), it symbolically represented Tom’s fleeing from the evils of the world.
Jem can be seen as a mockingbird as well. He is used as a mockingbird to represent an innocent young man’s transition to manhood while dealing with harsh problems of the real world at the same time. He is, like any boy of the same age, just beginning to experience the real world. Subsequently, the evils he face is the real world itself. Jem starts to learn important, valuable lessons during the course of the novel and loses his innocence in the process. Examples if him losing his innocence include when he stood up to Atticus, his reaction to the Tom Robinson trial, and when Bob Ewell attacked him in the end. An important one was when Atticus taught him about courage, for which he says “[i]t’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (p. 112). Jem is also passionate about the Tom Robinson trial. When Scout asks him about why Miss Gates hated Hitler and black folks, he grows furious and tells her to never talk about it again. Furthermore, Jem once thought there’s only one kind of folks, but as he grew, he dropped that notion and realized why Boo Radley stays in his house. Ergo, it’s like a mockingbird being killed and being reborn with new insight of the world
Section 4: Vocabulary
1) Spittoon – noun – 1. a cuspidor: Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama. (p. 4).
2) Predilection – noun – 1. a tendency to think favorably of something in particular; partiality; preference: The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb. (p. 9)
3) Vexation – noun – 1. the act of irritating, annoying, provoking, etc.: Entailment was only a part of Mr. Cunningham’s vexation. (p. 21)
4) Diminutive – adjective – 1. small; little; tiny: He was among the most diminutive of men, but when Burris Ewell turned toward, Little Chuck’s right hand went to his pocket. (p. 27)
5) Asinine – adjective – 1. foolish, unintelligent, or silly; stupid: Lastly, we were to stay away from that house until we were invited there, we were not to play an asinine game he had seen us playing or make fun of anybody on this street or in this town— (p. 49)
6) Accosted – verb – 1. (of animals) presented as side by side: When we were on the sidewalk in front of Miss Maudie’s, Mr. Avery accosted us. (p. 65)
7) Obstreperous – adjective – 1. resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner: “It was obstreperous, disorderly and abusive—” (p. 85)
8) Invective – noun – 1. vehement or violent denunciation, censure, or reproach: “Her use of bathroom invective leaves nothing to the imagination.” (p. 87)
9) Apoplectic – adjective – 1. of or pertaining to a sudden, usually marked loss of bodily function due to rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel: Once she heard Jem refer to our father as “Atticus” and her reaction was apoplectic. (p. 100)
10) Cantankerous – adjective – 1. disagreeable to deal with; contentious; peevish: “Conscious,” he smiled, “and cantankerous.” (p. 111)
1) Habiliments – noun – 1. a) clothes or clothing / b) clothes as worn in a particular profession, way of life, etc.: When Calpurnia stayed overnight with us she slept on a folding cot in the kitchen; that morning it was covered with our Sunday habiliments. (p. 117)
2) Impedimenta – plural noun – 1. baggage or other things that retard one’s progress, as supplies carried by an army: There was no sign of piano, organ, hymnbooks, church programs—the familiar ecclesiastical impedimenta we saw every Sunday. (p. 120)
3) Ecclesiastical – adj. – 1. of or pertaining to the church or the clergy; churchly; clerical; not secular: Its fantasy was heightened by its red bricks façade and the thick steel bars at its ecclesiastical windows. (p. 150)
4) Uncouth – adj. – 1. awkward, clumsy, or unmannerly: Atticus’s moth, even, was half-open, an attitude he had once described as uncouth. (p. 154)
5) Subpoena – noun – 1. the usual writ for the summoning of witnesses or the submission of evidence, as records or documents, before a court or other deliberative body: “Better be careful he doesn’t hand you a subpoena.” (p. 160)
6) Dictum – noun – 1. an authoritative pronouncement; judicial assertion: “You gotta make me first,” I said, remembering Atticus’s blessed dictum.” (p. 173)
7) Ambidextrous – adj. – 1. able to use both hands equally well: “About your writing with your left hand, are you ambidextrous, Mr. Ewell?” (p 178)
8) Mollified – verb – 1. to soften in feeling or temper, as a person; pacify; appease: Mollified, Mayella gave Atticus a final terrified glance and said to Mr. Gilmer. . . (p. 180)
9) Volition – noun – 1. the act of willing, choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing: He seemed to be a respectable Negro, and a respectable Negro would never go up into somebody’s yard of his own volition. (p. 192)
10) Scuppernongs – noun – 1. muscadine: The kitchen table was loaded with enough food to bury the family: hunks of salt pork, tomatoes, beans, even scuppernongs. (p. 213)
Section 5: Plot
The novel begins with Scout, the protagonist, and Jem arguing about the events prior to the latter breaking his arm with Scout saying the Ewells started it and Jem asserting that Dill visiting them in the summer started it. This leads to Scout explaining the events in a flashback, starting with the summer Dill first visited them when Scout and Jem were six and ten, respectively. Dill was interested in making Arthur “Boo” Radley come out of his house, and Jem took up a bet that he would touch the house, which he eventually did. As the year passed by, Scout noticed a knot-hole in one of two oak trees in front of the Radley house and found gum, for which she chewed, and even though Jem told her to spit it out, they would later find and keep many more prized possessions in the hole everytime they walked home from school. Meanwhile, the latter created a game in the summer with Dill back, in which they imitated the Radleys’ lifestyles. Their games got riskier, however, when Jem wanted to give Boo a note to tell him to come out. When his attempt was futile with Nathan Radley coming out with a shotgun, the threesome ran away, though Jem left his ripped jeans, but he later got it back, finding it to be sewed up. On Christmas, there was a conflict between Scout and Francis, her cousin, which ended up with the former punching him, and Uncle Jack punishing her. The next year, Jem and Scout are fascinated by their father’s “courage” when he shoots a rabid dog without remorse. Mrs. Dubose, however, hates Atticus and insults him right in front of his children, resulting in Jem getting angry and trashing her yard. Consequently, he has to read for her for a month, and when she finally dies, Atticus later reveals to him that the former was there, so he can learn what true “courage” is.
Jem, who is now twelve years old, and Scout are invited to a “black” church by Calpurnia, and there they find the background of Tom Robinson’s rape case when Reverend Sykes asks, or rather forces, the community into giving money up for Tom’s wife, Helen. Meanwhile, Aunt Alexander has come to Maycomb to stay, though Jem and Scout aren’t much happy about it. One night, Jem and Scout sneak out of the house, along with Dill, who ran away from home, to follow Atticus to jail. They find a group of men confronting Atticus, possibly to lynch Tom Robinson, and realizing that he is in danger, the threesome jump in to defend him (mostly just Jem since the other two didn’t realize what was happening). The next day, the trial begins, and Jem, Scout, and Dill sit in the Negroes’ section of the court. Heck Tate, Bob Ewell, Mayella Ewell, and Tom Robinson each confess their side of the story: Heck Tate says that he saw Mayella injured and that they never called for any medical attention; Bob recounts that he was coming home from the woods when he heard Mayella screaming and saw Tom rape her; Mayella says she invited Tom into her house and he raped her; and Tom says she “tempted” him, but Bob saw them, and he fled. Atticus uses his skillful lawyering tactics to convince the jury Tom is innocent but fails when the twelve jurymen accounted him as guilty. As a result, Tom Robinson gets transferred to another prison, and although Atticus tells his kids that he has a chance of getting pardoned, Tom gets shot numerous times when he tried to escape, dying. When the school year starts again, there is a Halloween party planned, and Scout is playing one of the foods in the play. Jem takes Scout to the school, and on their way home, they get attacked by an unknown figure, which is eventually revealed to be Bob Ewell, who vowed to get revenge on Atticus. However, another person saved them, and when Scout arrives home safely, she finds that Jem has broken his arm and the person who saved them was Arthur Radley. Scout takes him home and never sees him again, later going back home and falling asleep to a book Atticus read to her.
Section 7: Historical Context (Library Research)
The Second Ku Klux Klan was formed in 1915 by William J. Simmons, inspired by the novel The Clansman, its groundbreaking film adaptation The Birth of a Nation, and the lynching of Leo Frank, an American Jew who had allegedly raped and murdered Mary Phagan, which was sensationalized by the media. It was a revival of the first Klan, but their motives and actions were done for entirely different reasons. Instead of merely opposing blacks, it was also anti-Jewish, anti-Communist, anti-Catholic, and anti-immigrant, glorifying the supremacy of white Protestants. For its first five years, the KKK was only isolated in the southern area, primarily around Atlanta, Georgia with a small amount of members. However, after World War I, it expanded due to increasing tensions and the temperance movement, for which the members defied bootleggers. Furthermore, Edward Y. Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler spread the Klan’s reputation by integrating the methods of American business to the organization, resulting in over five million members. Nevertheless, they were arrested, and upset by their defeat, a small group overthrew Simmons, and Dr. Hiram W. Evans became the new leader. The peak of its power rose in 1923 with Klansmen taking power in offices, city councils, and judicial systems, having huge political influence. However, in 1925, D.C. Stephenson, the Grand Dragon (state leader) of Indiana, which was where the focus of the Klan was shifting to, was arrested and convicted for raping Madge Oberholtzer. This, along with World War II, the Great Depression, and KKK politicians being unable to halt unwanted conditions in office, resulted in a dramatic decline of the organization. To this day, though, the Klan exists in individual groups and has a little over five thousand members.
Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. Vol. 4. 3rd ed. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. p551-553.
Andrist, Ralph K., ed. The American Heritage History of the 1920s & 1930s. New York: Bonanza Books, 1987.
Section 6: Timeline
- Jem and Scout meet Dill, and the latter dares him to touch the Radley house.
- Jem sneaks out of the house in the middle of the night with Dill and Scout to take a peak into the Radley house, but they end up running away with Jem’s pants caught in the fence.
- Jem has to read to Mrs. Dubose for a month due to destroying her bushes.
- Jem stands up to Atticus’s threats, requests, and demands to leave when he, Scout, and Dill sneak out of the house to follow him to jail.
- Jem, Scout, and Dill view the Tom Robinson trial in the Negroes section of the courtroom.
- Jem has a conversation with Miss Maudie, who tells him that even though Tom was voted guilty, there are still good people in the town and world.
- Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout on their way home from the Halloween party, successfully breaking Jem’s left arm.
Jem is the older brother of Scout and is a major dynamic character of the novel. The summer when he and Scout met Dill was what he thought started the chain of events that led to him breaking his arm. Dill had dared Jem to touch the Radley house, which might’ve struck an indirect relationship with Boo Radley, who protected him from Bob Ewell in the end. Him trying to peek into the Radley house marked the first note of bravery within Jem. The death of Mrs. Dubose had significant effect on his life, as Atticus later taught him about why she did what she did and what real courage was. Standing up to Atticus was also a courageous event that took place because he didn’t back down in believing what he thought was right. The Tom Robinson case actually fueled Bob’s fire into hating Atticus, so that’s what made the former attack Jem. The conversation between Jem and Miss Maudie gave him insight into the real world, that bad things just happen to good people. When Bob Ewell attacked him, he broke his arm, showing a symbol of how far evil can go to get things done. By the end, Jem learned many important life lessons by different people who profoundly affected his life.
Section 8: The Trial – Persuasion Techniques
The techniques Atticus uses to persuade the jury that Tom is innocent include the uses of emotional, logical, and ethical appeals, the latter two of which he uses the most. In one instance, Atticus loosens up his tie and takes off his coat to show his casualness and calmness, maybe a sign of ethical mannerism to connect with the audience that he’s not some emotionless, hard-knuckled lawyer who just wants to win the case and go home. Another sign of ethical appeal is when he describes what seems to be acceptable in Maycomb and challenges it, pointing out that we’re all human beings, colored or not. He uses logical appeal when he tells the audience straightforward with open honesty and simply goes, “Here’s the deal, guys. We have no justifiable evidence that Tom raped Mayella. Coupled with that, Tom’s right arm is broken, so he could be innocent for all we know.” He points out flat facts that made the jurymen ponder beyond a reasonable doubt, so they can question Tom’s innocence. Furthermore, he uses emotional appeals to connect with the audience and jury through their subconscience of what they know is the right thing. He brings in the examples of Einstein and Rockefeller to compare them to the court, which men are supposedly all equal. However, he points out that a court can be mistaken as much as any human being in the room. With this, he ends his final statement with the words, “In the name of God, do your duty” (p. 205), bringing in religion to make the jurymen think about what they are going to vote for. The results of his final statements eventually makes the jurymen contemplate very long about their decision, proving that Atticus’ techniques really brought out the willingness of these men to vote whether or not to sentence a guy to death.
Section 9: Reaction Paragraphs
Prejudice is, by definition, prejudgment, which is “making a decision before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case or event.” If that’s the case, then I probably see prejudice everyday [on the Internet]. Ignorant people are always judging upcoming films based on a director’s track record, a trailer, or even a rating. It’s ridiculous that people say such things when they haven’t the right to since they haven’t seen it. They can be skeptical or anticipated, but to fully judge a film before you’ve seen it is a stupid thing to do. One example I’ve come across is Terminator Salvation, which used to be hated until Jonathan Nolan, the co-writer of The Dark Knight, was on board the film. People often complained of Joseph “McG” Nichol, whose directorial works have just been two Charlie’s Angels films and a mediocre sports drama We Are Marshall, the writers of Catwoman writing the original script, and the possibility of a PG-13 rating. However, as time went on, better news came out of the film (most notably James Cameron’s [the original creator of the franchise] contribution, significant revisions of the script by acclaimed writers, Christian Bale’s commitment to the project, and the trailer), “haters” died down and skepticism turned into optimism. Even then, I still wouldn’t judge the film, which can very possibly be disappointing (I had so much hope for Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, but it turned out worse than its predecessors), so I’m sticking to my guns until I see the film in May, though I may be a bit biased toward liking the film. That’s why I consider “don’t judge a book by its cover” as one of the most important life lessons I’ve learned.
12 Angry Men is a courtroom drama film about a jury of twelve men who has to make a unanimous decision on whether to vote a kid guilty or not guilty. He was claimed to have murdered his father, and like To Kill a Mockingbird, if the kid is voted guilty, he would be sentenced to death. The majority of the jurymen thought him as guilty; in fact, only one wanted to argue his innocence. That juryman feels that it’s unethical to immediately vote the kid guilty, as the evidence produced and testifications in the courtroom, he thought, were not enough. The witnesses that testified claimed they saw the kid murder his father, though the jurymen argue the accuracy of their evidence. One of the witnesses said she might have worn her glasses when she saw the murder, which challenges the reliability of her story. On the other hand, the second witness was accused of wanting to get attention. Nevertheless, most of the jurymen still argue that because of the boy’s muddle memory of the incident, he is the prime suspect that killed his father. However, the juryman was able to convince a few other jurymen that he was innocent by countering that the boy was anxious at the time and that he couldn’t remember. In the end, he is able to persuade all of the jurymen that the kid was innocent.
Three social classes in school include the jocks, the Asian nerds, and the gang members. The jocks are usually the basketball or football players that are considered “cool” and get all the girls. It may be a stereotype, but if you look real hard, it’s actually true. The Asian nerds is another social class that’s stereotypical since “all Asians are smart.” There are several Asians who aren’t in Pre-AP classes and fail, but people still usually cheat off of them. The gang members are generally the students who look like gang members (baggy pants, prison tattoos, etc.), have probably been in jail, and are failing their classes. Some of them are actually pretty cool (yes, I have friends that are part of gangs), but they just make stupid mistakes. As for myself, I’d probably group myself as part of the Asian nerds. However, I don’t think many people see me that way since I have friends of all different races, even ones that fail. I try not to be hated and befriend people I meet, so I may be perceived as a nice, cool “Asian nerd.”
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