To Kill a Mockingbird 3

In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the plot continues to become thicker and thicker. At the beginning, Jem and Scout had fun with their friend Dill in the summer trying to coax Boo Radley from his house. But as the story progressed, more issues of racism came into play. The trial, as unfair as it seems, was a normal occurrence in the south. But Scout is a character that is against the racism, even just in her town and she knows what is unfair.

Scout’s Teacher, Miss Gates, teaches her class a lesson about Democracy and Dictatorship using World War 2 and Hitler as her example. But what made me physically angry at her was when she begins to talk about how because we are a democracy, we are fair to everyone. She says, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody.” Wait a minute there. She said that America does not believe in persecuting anybody while all of America and even herself are rude to African Americans all of the time. She lives during the civil rights movement! It is especially not right to say this after the trial that has just taken place. I do not think that it is right for her to be saying that then, but maybe she could get away with that now. But even saying this today would be risky because not everyone is treated fairly. This scene happens while the students are reading current events, but Miss Gates obviously doesn’t know about current events.

Because Miss Gates thought that it was right to say that America treated everyone fairly during the civil rights movement, it makes me think that she is not the only one. Maybe people didn’t include persecuting blacks as unfair treatment. The way I suppose the people think is “they deserve it so it doesn’t count.” But as we know, this is not only unfair, but also untrue. The fact that Scout catches this mistake and asks her father about it says that maybe Miss Gates is off her rocker, but at least some people have some sense.

Miss Gates is an angering character in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Even before she said this, Scout never really liked her. Scout seems like she is opposite from the community in her beliefs and her style. She does not believe in persecution of blacks and she does not want to become what her society calls a “lady”. So in some ways, she is not a very realistic character, but I think she relates to girls in modern times.

The Help

I recently began reading “The Help”. From the amount that I read, I know that the book is about the relationships of whites and blacks in Mississippi during the time of the civil rights movement. It is told through the perspective of an African American woman who is a nanny and maid to Miss. Leefolt’s family. One of the things I find most interesting about the book is that it is told through the eyes of not only an African American, but also a woman. It is a perspective that while learning about this time never really saw. It makes the time seem different because now the reader knows how people felt being treated the way that they were, rather than just stating the facts.

In the first couple pages of the book, Miss Leefolt, the woman that Aibeleen works for, has a bridge game with many of her friends. They talk about gossip, but they also talk about how blacks are lazy and they cannot do much work. Miss Leefolt makes sure that Aibeleen is not in sight. She never describes how she feels about this commenting, but I know that the reason for this is most likely because she is used to it. What does that say about the community? For one thing, it means that they don’t think that blacks have feelings because they don’t make any move to be quiet around her. She is probably angry about these remarks, but making these rude comments with her in the room and right next door makes me think that they have no thought for blacks whatsoever. Another thing that this says about the community is that the African Americans no longer care strongly what the people say. Their rights are being completely ignored, as citizens and as people, and they make no arguments about the horrible things people say. I think that it takes courage to fight against it, but it is just as dangerous to say nothing.

I know that from what I know of myself, I would be afraid to stand up for my rights alone. This may be part of the problem. No one feels like they can say anything because nobody else is. But if it had kept going on like that, the civil rights movement might still be going on. I suppose something must have happened even in Mississippi to have this change. This may also change in the book as it goes along. I can’t believe that anyone could get used to living a life under that kind of hatred without saying anything. It must take a lot of courage to be quiet and risk you and your family’s future as well as risk your life to be free of it. No matter how many books I read or movies I watch, I will never completely understand what Blacks were going through in that time period.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2

I am still reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. It is a true story about Henrietta Lacks whose cells were taken from her when she developed cancer. These cells, unlike any others, could grow nonstop and therefore are used in numerous experiments, one of which cured polio. The book follows Henrietta’s family and Rebecca Skloot as she tries to gather information from the family. Throughout the story, there are many perspectives. The most common ones are Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta’s family, and the doctors and scientists. But one of the most important perspectives is missing: the people.

They story explains the press and how many articles were published about the HeLa cells(Henrietta’s cells), and that these are all over the world, but the book never explains what the ordinary day people thought about what was happening. Were the people upset, or did they just not care? The story excludes these people because since the Lacks family didn’t know it was Henrietta, the people most likely would have thought nothing of it, except for the fact that her cells were curing many diseases. In this large area, I also think that the people who were tested with the cells have no perspective in the book. They got cancer in their body without knowing as a test. This is what happened to Henrietta and I’m sure they were not happy, but how should I know if the book leaves them out?

I also noticed that in the book there is a lot of racism, and this somewhat corresponds to perspective. Within just the Lacks family, there are light skinned people and African Americans, and these people rarely mix. The perspective of the African Americans is actually shown much more in the story because they are Henrietta’s direct family. I think that even though this is exactly opposite of what someone might expect given the time period, it show the segregation that there is, but without giving any color an advantage. It still shows the separation but it is kindly written to not exclude African Americans. The family cared a lot about the whole cell thing, but how did whites feel? Were they upset or did they just not care because of skin color?

In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, I realized that racism does not have to be shown by excluding the victims, African Americans. It can be shown in many ways, and the less obvious it is, the more realistic it is; because the obvious is not what happens every single time. The perspective that is missing explains a lot about what the author is trying to tell the reader.