Before launching into my own ideas, let me comment on the previous post. Scout's behavior in front of the county jail doesn't show courage; it shows naivete. Scout has no idea why the men have gathered, and she simply wants the father of one of the classmates to recognize her.
To me, Jem seems to more clearly show a growing awareness of the need to consider the feeling of others (by which I mean both human and non-human animals), not just oneself. He's the one who doesn't want to shoot bluejays (Scout does), who doesn't want to squash the roly-poly (Scout does), etc. Of course, Scout develops too throughout the story. One section that you may want to revisit is in the trial scene; here, Scout has some sympathy for Mayella and comes to see Tom Robinson as reasonable and as possessing "manners ... as good as Atticus's". Another section to consider, of course, is the final section of the novel; Scout shows strong sympathy for Arthur "Boo" Radley.
Having written all that, however, I want to add that I don't think the novel does a wholly convincing job of teaching people (including both Scout and us, the readers) to have complete empathy. Several characters -- esp. Bob Ewell and Lulu, the black woman at the church -- are demonized throughout the novel. My view is, no matter how much fault we can find with a person, there's always at least a shred of humanity in them. The novel doesn't show that shred in either Bob or Lulu. I'm not alone in this view. Many critics have made similar comments. See, for example, the article "The Rise and Fall of Atticus Finch." You may be able to access that article through a library computer.
No comments:
Post a Comment