Racism

Racism. Was it right? In To Kill A Mockingbird, racism was the center of their society. Everything from school, to walking on the streets, even in huge court cases revolved around the color of your skin. This was shown throughout the book. In many cases though, the whites were shown to be worse people than the blacks were even thought to be.

All of the kids were brought up with this thought that racism is okay, that that’s the norm. They were brought up thinking that it was okay to treat blacks like they were less than us whites, like they didn't even exists. Scout was one of the only children that saw the way that they were acting was terrible. She saw that racism isn't right, and that all people should be treated equal, but the most adults didn’t agree. They had grown up that way and weren't willing to change.

One person in the book that didn’t see everyone as black, or white, was Atticus Finch. He saw everyone as equals and gave everyone a fair chance, even blacks. In the big court case when Tom Robinson, who was black, was against Mayella Ewell Atticus stood up for Tom Robinson only stating the facts. He was trying to prove that maybe it wasn’t Tom Robinson, and that maybe, just maybe, they had everything wrong.

Today, racism is seen differently. There is still some racism in the world, but not to the extent that it was years ago. We have gotten past that time frame where racism was okay. People who are racist are in way, frowned upon. That is a time frame in our history that most of us are not proud of, but others grew up that way, and don’t see the problem. Which is one of the reasons why we are still racist. Some people believe that once all of the elderly people who grew up with racism die off, then we will be a better country.

Personality

One mistake. That's all it took for Melinda to be hated by everyone in school. She called the cops at a high school party, and now no one wants to hang out with her. She lost her friends, and she is now she is an outcast. Melinda has to live through this pain everyday, but most of all, she has to try to move forward for the next four years of her high school life.

Melinda calling the cops was the right thing to do, but when you go to a party then call the cops, you are bound to be hated. Melinda didn't realized that what she was doing was that bad a thing until it was already done. I think that calling the cops was a good thing for her. After she called the cops she hit rock bottom, but art was brought her back to reality. Whenever she was drawing she went to this place, where it was just her and the paper and thats all that mattered, which was very helpful when Melinda was feeling down. Most of that was Mr. Freeman. Without him she would go completely insane and be entirely depressed.

Melinda has been lost for her whole life. She was always an outcast, lost in the crowd. Even when she was in the 5th grade she was not sure who she was, or who she wanted to be. Sure she had friends, but she looked to them more for her own sake. Melinda wanted to improve her personality, but instead of looking within herself she would end up being her friends. When she decorated her room with her friends, the room wasn't a reflection of her, it was a reflection of what all her friends wanted her room to look like.

Will Melinda ever find herself? I think if she stays with art she could succeed immensely. With the way the tree drawing effected her I think it could help Melinda to find herself. Maybe if she finds herself she can get some real friends, not some fill in, good for now friends.