Essay #13

1/27/10
Jade
Mr.Salsich
English 8

What Lies Beneath the Surface:
An Essay on the Book To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Ann Lee and Real Life Experiences

If we lived in a world where everyone got along we would be a boring group of people. There would be no controversy, no sense of individuality. Living in a world where we are all different shows us how some people have a completely different side to them, sometimes a side you don’t want to see. It takes effort to get to know somebody, but all it takes are a few words to end what relationship you might have wanted.

(TS)At a first glance you can’t know everything about someone. Just because you make small talk with a person doesn’t mean you automatically know everything about them. It takes longer than a few brief minutes to actually get a glimpse of their true character. (SD)In the book To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Ann Lee we begin to realize some of the characters we have been introduced to are not who we thought they were. (CM) Mrs.Merriweather becomes an excellent example of this when she says “You know what I said to my Sophie, Gertrude? I said ‘Sophie,’ I said ‘you simply are not being a Christian today. Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and complaining’,” (Lee, 310). Everyone listened, showing an appropriate amount of interest, exchanging nods and murmurs of agreements, their silence supporting Mrs.Merriweather in telling her story. (Loose Sentence). (CM)In these sentences lies the truth. Mrs.Merriweather only thinks in black and white; what she sees through her eyes can only be depicted in this manor. Sophie is black, and this makes Mrs.Merriweather think that she owns her. She will never think any other way because she separates black and white; there can be no gray; there can be no compromise. (SD)Mrs.Merriweather also shows her two colors when she has a conversation with Scout about the Mrunas. (CM)She starts out very sweetly telling Scout that “You are a fortunate girl. You live in a Christian home with Christian folks in a Christian town. Out there in J. Grimes Everett’s land there’s nothing but sin and squalor.”(Lee, 308). (CM) She then flips and starts to insult her maid saying “It’s never entered that wool of hers that the only reason I keep her is because this depression’s on and she needs her dollar and a quarter every week she can get it.” (Lee, 312). (CS) It’s surprising to see how people act when they feel comfortable enough to talk about their personal life. If you don’t agree with their thoughts and beliefs their entire personality can switch and you will be left with someone who you no longer have interest in seeing.

(TS)Not everyone gets along; we all have different likes and dislikes, styles and personalities, backgrounds and histories. (SD)It would be impossible for such a diverse group of people to be compatible with everyone. (CM)We should be able to acknowledge this fact and move on in a mature fashion. (CM)Even with this being said we still sometimes act in a very immature manor, taking situations and arguments to far. (SD)Everyone has done this at one point or another; including me. When I was a small child I would occasionally get into fights with my peers over silly reasons; whether it be sharing crayons or stealing toys. (CM)Back then it was hard to realize that we were arguing over something pointless, and there were problems around the world that could use half the attention we were giving to these pointless matters. (CM)Most of the time we would either shake hands or completely forget our mini war, but there were a few times that a classmate and I would not make up. We tried, putting an amazing amount of effort into this hopeless cause, but after what seemed like a life time of work we realized our differences and came to the conclusion that we were just not able to be friends. This was strange for me because I, the driven student, the devoted friend, the respectable young child, had never given up. (Periodic sentence) Of course, we were only five and this conclusion was made during the length of one recess, so this might not be the best example. Even knowing this the fundamental point is still made; not everybody gets along. Even if you put a life time of effort into a friendship, you still might never get where you want to be. We should acknowledge this and try to move on, making the best of our lives with what we are given.

We are blessed with the opportunity to be unique. Though there are people like us, we are all different. We tend to gravitate towards who we feel safe with, who we trust. When we step out of this bubble however, the people we meet can either have a positive or negative effect on you. You might find someone to be new and exciting and become the best of friends, but you might also realize that some people are the opposite of you, and have a darker side you did not anticipate. This has happened to everyone at one point in their lives. But relax, just because you don’t seem to “click” with someone, doesn’t mean you should give up.

One of the things I contunue to work on is unity. Though I like how I write; I think I often loose track of my main point and start to go off into different direcions. I do however think my writing often makes my point come across as very strong. A weak point in this is that when I put effort into making a point heard; I often loose my train of thought and everything gets mixed up. I would give myself a B- on this essay because I really think I could have done a lot better with unity.