New Book New Attitude
To Kill A Mockingbird. Quite a peculiar title of a book that revolves around the aspect of moral growth. I was assigned Jem (Jeremy) to track throughout the book and I couldn't be happier. Aside from Scout, he's my favorite character because of the way he cares for Scout and his outlook on life. At one part of the book when the two found out that Nathan
Radley covered the knothole in the tree with cement, Jem was crushed because he didn't want Nathan to take away Boo Radley's only connection to the outside world. This empathy he feels towards Boo can attest to his persona in a way that makes the reader appreciate him more as a character.
The wise, Atticus Finch once said, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Atticus really drills this philosophy into his kids minds especially when they do start messing with Boo Radley because as a lawyer, he knows that everything isn't what it seems. You really can't know a person well enough until you've lived the life they've lived because everyone has a part of their life hidden from someone.
Concluding our first TKAM discussion, it was a bumpy ride but we got through it. All of our discussions aren't as good as the ones that we had at the beginning of the year but I think the empathy maps really helped emphasize the character similarities and differences and brought more focus to the plot of the novel. It helped the discussion flow a lot better. Some insights that came to me within the discussion was the role of Atticus as a lawyer and as a father. The fact that he brings some of his court habits into his relationship with Scout and Jem but in a positive fashion.
Chapters 1-9 down and we got the rest of the book to look forward to. So far it has been my favorite book of the year due to the fact that it has a complex plot, utilizes modern language, and is more relatable to our age group. Can't wait to see what's up next!
Click here to read another interpretation of Atticus Finch's famous quote.
