Another random homework

Every neighbourhood has its myths, which are created for various reasons, like deterring people from a private pond by saying a monster lives in it. These types of myths are created with an ulterior motive, but there are those spawned from boredom, where the need for entertainment urges us to stir up some stories, some excitement. I bear no grudge against these tales, unless they cause pain and hurt others. One example of discrimination caused by gossip exists in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. The buzz is centered on a man, Mr. Arthur Radley, also known as Boo, who had a rowdy childhood due to bad company. He broke many laws, including using vulgarities within earshot of women. Eventually, he was caught by the sheriff, who sent him to his father for disciplining. There was never a confirmed sighting of Boo ever since.

One of his neighbours, Ms. Stephanie Crawford, the town gossipmonger, claimed that she saw him looking through her window at midnight and described his face as “a skull”. This rejection of Boo Radley had even rubbed off on some Maycomb children, Jem, Scout and Dill, who visited Maycomb County each summer. In Jem’s mind, Boo was “about six-and-a-half feet tall”, ate animals raw, signifying his savageness, had a “long jagged scar that ran across his face” implying that he was ugly, teeth that were “yellow and rotten”, suggesting his poor sense of personal hygiene, had eyes that “popped”, a sign of lack of sleep and that he “drooled most of the time”, denoting his endless hunger. It is no wonder, with such a degrading mindset about Boo, that the townsfolk call him a “malevolent phantom”. However, the worst part is that they have never met Boo in person after he was kept indoors, and that the accusations were all just made up. How distressing it must be to be wronged like that.

Luckily, in the story, Mr. Arthur Radley is totally “freed of all charges” in the end. Many events led up to that total change of perception. To give an as clear and true description of him as possible, I must start from the beginning, when Dill came over from Meridian, Mississippi, to stay with his Aunt Rachel for the summer.
Dill was sitting in his aunt’s collard patch when Scout and Jem, Atticus Finch’s children, found him. They found each other to be quite likable and quickly became good friends. Scout and Jem introduced Dill to their neighbourhood and of course, Boo, who was a prominent part of the patchwork despite his lack of appearance. Dill, with his inquisitive nature, concocted countless plans to get Boo Radley to emerge from hiding, one which involved getting a note into the house with a fishing rod, asking Boo to come out and meet them. All the plans failed though.

Instead, Boo revealed himself to them in more subtle methods consisting of many kind acts. He put little gifts in a tree knot hole for them. In addition, once when Scout accidentally rolled in a wheel into the Radley’s front yard in a game the children were playing, Scout heard the sound of soft laughter coming out of the house. Also, when Jem lost and tore his pants in the Radley’s fence, he found them mended and nicely folded when he returned. What’s more is that he even put a blanket over a shivering Scout’s shoulders while she was standing in the cold outside while the men of Maycomb were fighting a fire in one of their neighbour’s home. These acts gradually changed the children’s mindset about Boo Radley, from “malevolent” to compassionate. The mysterious air of a “phantom” remained around him though. It only got totally dispelled at the end of the story, after an act of immense courage to save the children from an uncivilized madman.

Atticus Finch, the father of Jem and Scout, was a lawyer. He was fighting for a Negro, Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping a Caucasian girl, Mayella Ewell. Naturally, as they live in a racist place, many people were angry at Atticus for making such a move, even the children of Maycomb were no exception. Scout and Jem had to endure countless insults from their schoolmates about their father being a “nigger-lover”. Under order from their father, they were to exercise restraint on their reaction to the treatment.

When the time came for the trail, Atticus fought hard, deploying a variety of tactics, ranging from cross-examination to appealing to human nature, to save the man. Alas, history repeated itself; the white man won the case over the black man, even though practically all the evidence was strongly in favour of Tom. Despite the jury’s blind decision, the accuser, Mr. Bob Ewell’s credibility was shattered. It was clear to everyone what happened, but by tradition, the black man had to be convicted. Thus, Mr. Bob Ewell vowed to get revenge on Mr. Atticus Finch by targeting his heart, his children.

It was a dark Halloween night when Mr. Bob Ewell made his move. Jem and Scout were returning from a fair at school, wearing fancy costumes and walking through a pitch-black field by the Radley’s place. Jem heard a breathing sound behind them and ordered his sister to run for her life, while doing the same. However, it was too late and before they knew it, a knife-wielding Mr. Bob Ewell was upon them.
Luckily, Boo Radley came to their rescue. After a short struggle, he stabbed Mr. Bob Ewell to death and brought a badly injured Jem home. Scout also returned home shortly after unharmed. Only then did Scout have a clear look at Boo Radley, a fairly old man with wispy grey hair and snow white skin who looked quite normal on the outside, except that he truly had a heart of gold inside. That night, Scout held Boo Radley’s hand and walked him back home. At his porch, Scout realizes that Boo Radley would actually command quite a good view of the neighbourhood. He had actually been a guardian angel watching over them all this time regardless of how annoying they had been. It was then that all that was left of the misgivings Scout had about Boo Radley came to an end, along with a wave of understanding so many years of groundless assumptions had deprived her of.

Perhaps we cannot have all the knowledge in this world. School teaches us many things but there are some things which are not taught. A teacher can provide us with the many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and leave it up to us to understand and piece them all together. In the process, we discover ourselves and the world around us. Ultimately, even though we might not get a complete puzzle, we would have become complete inside.