To Kill a Mockingbird is, in large part, a coming-of-age tale, the story of a girl named Scout and how she lost her innocence. Her father, Atticus Finch, is her stronghold, full of love, wisdom, and guidance. He helps his daughter process the happenings around her and put her experiences in perspective. In one of Scout’s conversations with Atticus, he tells her “there are other ways of making people into ghosts,” and she comes to understand, through her observations and experiences, that he is referring to people who are alive, but feel invisible to the rest of world. Scout learns that Tom Robinson has been ostracized from society, and she recognizes that the person he truly is has been suppressed by the people who condemned him. She also knows that Boo Radley shut himself off from world around him, and in doing so, he became invisible; he existed only in the shadows.
Scout's attitude towards ghosts is summed up at the end of the novel, when she selects a ghost story to read with Atticus.
At the end of To Kill a Mockingbird, in Chapter 31, Scout goes to bed after a terrifying evening. Bob Ewell has stalked her and her brother, Jem, attempting to attack her with a knife. During the struggle with Bob Ewell, Jem's arm has been broken. Boo Radley has brought Scout and Jem home to Atticus.
Though all is well, by the end of the night, when Scout requests a book from Atticus, he feels that the story she has selected, titled "The Gray Ghost," might not be the best choice after such a scary evening. Scout points out to her father, ironically, books are the only thing she feels is scary, and as he reads to her, she falls asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment