Important Events In To Kill A Mockingbird

I am reading the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In chapters twenty-six through thirty, several crucial events occurred. Some of the events included, Tom Robinson’s death, Jem’s broken arm, and Scout meeting Boo Radley for the first time. These events affected the Finch family one way or another. When Tom Robinson died not a lot of people were affected by the death but Jem and Scout were affected greatly, Jem became moody and Scout became confused about Maycomb as a town. After a school pageant that Scout was in, one her way home Jem and Scout were attacked by Burris Ewell. Boo Radley had then saved Jem and Scout and then brought the two home. After the shock wore off, Scout then met Boo Radley and was in awe. In this journal, I will

be showing two people who best represent the theme of walking in someone else’s shoes.

Throughout this journal, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson can show themes of walking in another person’s shoes. Out of the many people that can show the theme of walking in others shoes, one person who shows the theme the best is Boo Radley. One way Boo Radley shows this theme is, to understand Boo people did not know him well enough. Boo stayed inside the house all day and never came out, which lead to rumors and gossip about him in the town of Maycomb. These rumors made Boo Radley to be someone he really was not and the people had to know Boo well enough or walk in his shoes to know what really happens inside the Radley house. Another way Boo Radley shows the theme is that no one knows what he is going through or what is happening inside the house and inside his mind. No one knew actually tried hard enough to find out about Boo, so the rumors flew in Maycomb. Boo Radley stayed inside his house for reasons unknown, it could have been because of the rumors and to really get to know Boo and to find out why he stays inside and what is happening inside his mind, the people would have to take a step inside Boo Radley’s shoes. One of the last reasons why Boo Radley is a good example of walking in someone else’s shoes is because the people of Maycomb only heard stories but they did not hear the whole truth. Towards the beginning of the novel Miss Maudie said, “that is a sad house. I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy. He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what is folks said he did. Spoke as nicely as he knew how” (Lee 61). This quote shows that Miss Maudie was the only one to try to understand Boo throughout the whole book. It also shows that Miss Maudie never thought bad about Boo and his family, she just thought that his family was private because of the things the parents did to the children. Miss Maudie never judged Boo Radley by the rumors she heard, she just thought what the wanted to based on her encounters with Arthur Radley.

The rumors that spread like wildfire throughout Maycomb did not have a lot of truth to them because the citizens never got to truly know Boo Radley. The citizens never got to truly know Boo because they never took the time to walk in his shoes. An abounding amount of people in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee show the theme of walking in someone else’s shoes, Tom Robinson can be considered as one of the people that can symbolize this theme. One of the many reasons why Tom Robinson can be considered for this theme is, not many people know what it is like to be convicted of something you never did. On Tom Robinson’s trial, Atticus had a wonderful defense against Burris Ewell and his lawyer Mr. Gilmer. Atticus showed that Tom could not have done it because Tom cannot use his left hand whereas Burris is left-handed. Even though Atticus had a remarkable defense built against the prosecutors, Tom was still convicted and then had to go to jail. Scout later realized that Tom was convicted because he was African-American. Not many people in Maycomb would understand what it would be like to be convicted of something they never did. To understand what Tom went through, the

townsmen would have to put their feet in Tom Robinson’s shoes. Another way Tom is a good representation of this theme is, the majority of Maycomb did not understand why Tom would run from jail. In the book Atticus said, “ What was one Negro, more or less, among two hundred of ‘em? He wasn’t Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner” (Lee 315). This quote shows that Atticus was explaining to Scout that the whites of Maycomb did not care enough about the African-Americans to understand the real reason behind the escape of Tom. Tom ran because he could not deal with being trapped in jail for something that he did not do and had to try to escape from all the horrendous events that had happened. Once again, the people of Maycomb would have to take a moment and think like Tom Robinson to comprehend why he attempted to escape from the prison. One of the last reasons why Tom Robinson is a valuable example for the theme of walking in someone’s shoes is, he felt pity for Mayella and that is why he helped Mayella day after day. When Tom was on the stand during the court scene he said, “No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time. I was glad to do it, Mr. Ewell didn’t seem to help her none, and neither did the chillun” (Lee 256). This quote shows, all Tom wanted to do was to assist Mayella because he felt awful about her situation. The people of Maycomb did not realize that Tom wanted to help Mayella, they just saw an African- American man who was supposedly guilty of raping Mayella. If the people would have taken the time to see who Tom Robinson really was, they would have seen that Tom was a kind-hearted man and had no intention of ever harming Mayella. The citizens did not ever take the time to understand Tom or Boo Radley, they came to conclusions based on the rumors that were spread throughout the town. Ultimately, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson show themes of walking in another person’s shoes.

I believe I deserve an 8/10. I feel this way because I think I analyzed the quotes and the theme well. I also think that I deserve an 8 because I took a lot of time on this journal. In my journal I believe that I do not have any contractions. One thing I could have done better was going deeper into my analyses.