One of the things that I like about mainstreaming is all the books you get to read . A good example of this is in ninth grade for English class we had to read To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. This book is a great read I know that baby will enjoy this book this upcoming school year. One of the things that the book talks about is compassion and seeing something from anther person's point of view . Here is the quoteYou 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.
After we finished reading the book we had to write an essay based on this wrote here is what I wrote for that assignment.
Don't read the rest if you haven't read the book
Have you ever looked at something or someone from a different point of view? In Harper Lee’s 1961 classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird this in one of the many themes of the book . The main character Scout Finch‘s dad (Atticus) tells Scout ,“ ’you climb into his skin and walk around in it ’ ” (33) in order to understand people. Scout walks in a lot of people skin in the story. Two characters that she tries to understand in this way are Atticus and Dolphus Raymond.
While Scout thinks Atticus is a boring old man that no one respected she comes to find that he has a lot of respect in Maycomb county. Scout wishes her dad was younger; when she talks to her neighbor (Miss. Maudie) she says “ ’Atticus can’t do anything.’ “(104) Scout loves her dad of course as all girls her age do, but wishes he was younger so he can be more like her friends dads. She also thinks that no one could possibly respect him because he doesn’t have any talents. As the story gets deeper and deeper into the plot Scout realizes that her dad has talents and a lot of people respect him. Atticus is a lawyer and defends a black man(Tom Robinson) who was charged of raping a white girl. The day after Tom Robinson’s trail the Finch’s find the table “loaded with enough food to bury the family.”(244) This would be a sign of respect in our time period. This has an even bigger sign of respect because To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during the great depression. Scout realizes that the people would rather starve so her family would have enough to eat. In the end of the book Scout learns that her dad is not the old, useless man she once saw but a man who the town valued .
Although Scout thinks that Dolphus Raymond is an alcoholic she comes to find that he’s ,not but he has to pretend. When the kids go into to town for the trial and see
Mr. Raymond Scout and Jem’s friend (Dill) says ‘’He drinkin’ out of a sack”(182);Scout’s brother tell Scout and Dill that Mr. Raymond “ ‘got a Coca-Cola bottle full of whiskey in there.’”(182) Scout believes her older brother and decides to avoid him. Scout thinks he’s a bad man because he also lives with a colored women. Scout latter learns that Jem’s views on Dolphus Raymond are not true. When Dill can’t take anymore of the court trial the children go outside and find themselves face to face with Dolphus Raymond. He offers dill his drink that according to legend is whiskey. After taking a sip Dill says “ ‘Scout, it’s nothing but Coca-Cola.’”(227) Scout is very surprised and is forced to imagined life from Mr. Raymond’s point of view. Scout learns that Dolphus Raymond has no choice but pretend to because people will hurt him. In the end Scout realizes that Dolphus Raymond not a drunk but has to pretend to be so people will leave him alone
The theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is to see things through someone else’s point of view. Scout learns that her dad is not a boring old man who doesn’t have any respect but a man who the black community values. Scout learns that Dolphus Raymond is not a drunk but a has to in order too protect himself. Have you ever seen something from someone else’s point of view?
*This is a post That i wrote before we went to southern CA where we are now.*
