Point of View

Author’s Note: In this piece, I critically analyze the point of view of To Kill a Mockingbird and to show how the reader might interpret it differently if the book or a chapter was written from “Boo” Radley’s point of view. This is only based on the first 75 pages of the book, because that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I also don't have an introduction and conclusion because I'm only grading this on the reading rubric. 

In the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, a young girl named Scout tells a story about growing up in Maycomb County, Alabama. Part 1 of the book is mostly about Scout starting school, and about her, her brother Jem, and her friend Dill going on summer expeditions. They have a mysterious neighbor whom they call “Boo” Radley; he seems to never come out of his house. Curiosity begins to take them over and they begin plotting schemes to try to find out who he is.

The story is told from Scout’s point of view because it’s easier to tell of their adventures so that the reader can understand them. For example, it says:

Jem attached the note to the end of the fishing pole, let the pole out across the yard and pushed toward the window he had selected. The pole lacked several inches of being long enough, and Jem leaned over as far as he could. I watched him making jabbing motions for so long, I abandoned my post and went to him.

If these scene in particular was told from “Boo” Radley or Atticus’ point of view, we wouldn’t comprehend it well and we wouldn’t know the motive for the note. We also may not have known how much planning the kids put into the “mission.” For this reason I believe the point of view was good for most chapters.

Although Scout’s point of view makes sense and helps us as reader’s understand the text, I think it would’ve been cool to include some chapter’s from “Boo” Radley’s point of view. By doing this, it might add some comedy to the story, knowing that the kids may or may not be doing all of this for nothing. Here’s what I think it would be like if they added a few chapter’s in “Boo” Radley’s point of view:

… I reckoned when she found the blanket later she would be mighty surprised. It was the coldest day in Alabama since as long as I can remember, and the poor kid was hardly noticin’ herself shiverin’. I wasn’t ‘bout to let her freeze and get no frostbite. Next,  I walked right on over to Ms. Maudie’s place ‘n dragged furniture out the door. It was surprisin’ that I still had some strength left in me, after all them years of sittin’ on my wicker chair. After being there in that fire, I knew the place was gone. The stairs were givin’ in ‘n I could hear the roof a cracklin’. Them d*** fire trucks got their axels frozen right on em’ and the wheels weren’t even turnin’. When they finally got there, we all knew it was too late.

I think this would’ve been kind of cool to add a paragraph so we could tell what he thinks about the children spying on him. It would’ve given the readers almost an advantage on the characters because they know more than the characters.

Anxiety

Author's note: This is a poem I wrote about the feeling of anxiety when you step out onto the stage/field (whatever you think of). 

My heart pounds,
my head aches,
my heart sighs.
I wonder,
why?

My body quivers,
my legs bounce,
my heart sighs.
I know,
why.

My head's confused,
I'm excited, I'm nervous,
my heart sighs.
I cry,
why?

I was once free,
I had no stress but now,
my heart sighs.
I know,
why.

The dread is unbearable,
my life seems over,
my heart sighs.
I panic,
why?

Anxiety takes over,
but soon it will be done,
my heart sighs.
I step out, for I know,
why.

My life has been spent,
preparing, preparing,
my heart sighs.
For I realize,
why.

Comfort sets in as I do what I do,
my practice pays off, but yet,
my heart sighs.
It's over and I think,
why?

Theme Analysis

What if you were forced to choose between staying with your parents, but following their faction's rules, or going away and rarely seeing them? What if you had to decide whether to kill your boyfriend or killing yourself? What if you could either run away from all you ever knew, or let the government choose how you spend the rest of your life? Imagine, being practically brainwashed from an evil political figure that you made an idol. Many novels and real life situations involve the government taking over and creating a chaotic incident.

In the book, Divergent, by Veronica Ross, the population is split into five different factions. The faction centered around intelligence is rebelling against the selfless faction, who runs the government, but the intelligence faction doesn't have any fighting power. They turn to the daring faction and meet with some of the leaders to devise a plan. Against the will of any of the young people in the daring faction, they inject a tracker into them, saying that it was simply a tracking device, a precaution in case they got lost. This injection turns out to be able to control what each young person does. Literally, they all wake up in the middle of the night and their legs and arms are moving for them. They are forced to go kill as many government figures as they can, which includes some of their own parents. No one except for the leaders of the two factions was involved in this decision to go kill so many innocent people.

Another example of the theme of Government Control is the book, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. In this book, 24 people are literally put in an arena and forced to fight until only one is left alive. This is another example of a government putting teenagers and young kids in really difficult situations. In the book, the two main characters don't want to kill each other so they try to commit suicide and go against the government. You can tell just how controlling this government is just because of the situation they put these kids in, and because of how angry they get after the two main characters try to stand up to them. In this novel, the government is actually putting their own people in danger as well.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry is another example of complete Government Control. In this book, the government controls every aspect of your life; who you will marry, what your career will be, how many kids you have, and even what you can say. Babies are snatched away from whoever had them, and put into a Nurturing House until they are one. Then, they are literally assigned a family, not the one that had them, just so that each family can have one boy and one girl. Then, once they turn twelve, their career is chosen for them, and they begin training for it. Later in life, they choose who you marry by matching characteristics and then eventually assign you a child. It's really difficult to imagine not being able to choose anything in your life.  The government in this book wants everything the same, so that no one feels different and so no one stands out.

These three books all include people who are living an entirely tragic life. The government is controlling much of their life. A similarity between all three books is that no one has a say in the government. The few people in charge make harsh decisions about how all of the people need to be, and what decisions they are allowed to make.  In my opinion, a big part of life is being allowed to have a say in your government. It's important for us to be our own people and have our own opinions. It allows us to have a personality, to choose our own paths in life, and to choose who we want to spend it with. In America, we are able to vote for who we want to lead us, and for what we want to do. If a leader makes a poor decision, he can be removed from office in the next election, and the law can be repealed. We are so lucky to be living in a society like this where we are able to have a say -- we need to keep it that way.