What To Kill a Mockingbird Means to Me

One theme that really stood out to me was the sexism againt women. Scout goes throughout the book being a "tomboy". She wears overalls instead of dresses, and plays gmaes with Jem and Dill. These games wern't what little girls her age used to play. Other girls played with dolls and played tea party. Scout followed Boo Radley and participated in the games the boys played. When I was little, I was pretty tomboyish too. I loved bugs, mostly. Other kids in my class would run away from bees and spiders, when I could spend a long time watching them, fascinated. My whole family was like that, I guess. My little sister spent hours digging in our compost pile, looking and playing with worms. I was more into the spiders, but we did NOT like the Disney princesess, and rarely played with dolls.

I think it is ironic that Scout takes it as an insult when Jem tells her to stop acting like a girl. Even now, when people say stop being a girl, it is an insult. Why?, I don't know. This just helps to prove the point of sexism against womenand is why this theme really stuck soundly in my mind. As a small child, other girls couldn't understand why I liked to play with beatles instead of Barbies. Likewise, Aunt Alexandra never comprehended why Scout wore overalls and acted like a boy, when her idea of raising a girl included making sure they wore a dress and had lady-like manners.

To Kill a Mockingbird has many important themes, but the sexism against women is the one I can connect the best to.

Alena

My Boo Radley

Everyone has in their life a time when they didn't understand something. Later, as a wiser person, you realize that what you thought was wrong. For me, it was in third grade. There was this girl named Samantha who was ignored by all the other kids. So, because I was a new student that year, I left her alone too. When she wanted to play dolls with me and the other girls, we told her to go play by herself. She would come up to us on the playground and we would just move away and go to the swings. After a while Samantha never asked to play with us. She stayed in the corner during free time, and at recess she sat on the monkey bars alone. Finally, my friends and I were free of that anoying little girl. Or so I thought. Actually, it was just untill my conscience met up with me. 

This was much like Boo. He and his gang went around in the old days, and finally when he caused too much trouble, he stopped. Well, actually he was made to stop. Boo was locked up in his house and not allowed out again. Maybe he lost the desire to go out again after a while. Just like Samantha lost the desire to want to play with me. The will to try evaporated. They gave up. But why would they want to try anyway? What would Boo do? The townsfolk knew he had caused trouble and would look down upon him. For Samantha, my friends and I would just say go away again. Later Scout learned that Boo was a nice person, not some monster that she and Jem thought he was. Likewise, little did I know it's a small world out there.

As it turned out, Samantha moved away. I didn't see her for precisly three years. In seventh grade, at the pumpkin patch, was Samantha. She was friendly and talked to me. I felt horrible. I had never given her a chance, just like Scout hadn't ever given Boo one till she met him. Once I let Samantha talk to me I wondered how I ever thought she was obnoxious. The only reason I had thought she was, was because she always had wanted to play with me. Well, if we had let her play with us, there never would have been a problem in the first place.

I realized that Scout's misunderstanding of Boo was much like my own of Samantha. We had listened to what others said about people and formed bad opinions of them without giving them a chance to make an impresion of themselves by themselves. Now I understand Samantha was never anoying, just desperate to not be alone. Boo was never mean, he was scared to go out in town during the day because all the townsfolk were terrified of him through stories they had heard. It is in this way that I realized my Boo Radley was Samantha. It took three years for me to find the truth.

Alena

Please realize I changed the name for the sake of protecting others' privacy.

The Importance of English

Your first assignment is to write an introduction to your blog. Write about yourself as a reader and writer. What type of English student are you? What will someone who follows your blog expect to see? How will you enlighten the on-line world with your reaction to the literature studied in class? Remember, English is reading, writing, and communication. Attempt to answer the question: what is the meaning of English class? Why is English a four-year requirement for college bound students? How will excelling in English help you become a successful person, both personally and academically?

Hello

        I love to read and write. Also, I don't mind sharing my writing. I know for alot of people it is hard to let others read their work. Your writing is very personal, and it's like letting others have a glimps into your heart. Which, I know, can be a little scary. But I love to read the most. I just like to lose myself in the middle of a good book.
      If you follow my blog you will see my opinions about all the assigments we get to do. I am very opinionated and plan to let the cyber-world know what I think about the books we read in class. Follow me if you are interested. If not, that's okay too, I'll never know the difference.
      I think it's important to read what others think about the books we read. It helps to keep you open-minded and accept new ideas. Without reading and writing skill, you will find it very hard to succeed in life. The basic of being a citizen in our country is knowing how to communicate with each other. Where would we be if we couldn't? There would never be new ideas or new things to try. Life would be boring. English splashed color on life. Makes things interesting and fresh. Well I hope you enjoy reading my blog in the future!

Alena Vecht

P.S My blog is late because my internet has been down and not working.