Chattahoochee River
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
To Kill A Mockingbird - Section 1
As I read this first section I noticed there was strong influence of the small-town/close-knit feeling between all the citizens of Maycomb. When you live in a small city I can imagine how odd it would be when outsiders, that don't abide to your community customs, trample their way into town. It changes the fabric of continuity and casts a shadow of imminent threat on the citizens' lives. Since I've already read the book the theme of resisting change and ostracizing "others" casts a new light on the developments later in the story, which will be extremely integral to the book's message... but that will have to wait since I don't want to spoil the book.
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I agree that the depiction of Maycomb, Alabama, particularly from the perspective of someone within it's tight-knit society, is so far one of the most interesting aspects of the book. In my experience, we who have lived in Fresno our whole lives really have no practical understanding of what that must be like.
ReplyDeleteI feel that there is also ostracizing within the same community. People are not highly accepting of people who do not conform to the society's common customs, such as Sunday in Maycomb, a day of formal visiting, was not something the Radley's participated in. Although Maycomb is accepting of how the Radley's behave.
ReplyDeleteVianca brought up the Radley's and they are in a sense the "outsiders" within this community, that also made me think of the Ewell's and how certain things they did weren't "normal" but the people of Maycomb knew who they were and were okay with the strange things they did I guess. The one thing that stuck out to me in your post was that you mentioned people trampling their way into town as if there are going to be new characters sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat was a thought provoking was how the Radley's were included in the town history but they acted as if they had just moved to the town and knew nothing about social gatherings and uniting as a community. They were scarcely seen outside the gates of their home. They have the characteristics of a casted out outsider.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point of view, Anthony. I too analyzed the theme of the town and I thought it was interesting how you continued to notice the behavior of the town your second time around reading about it. I'm interested to see more of your perspectives as the story unfolds to see what someone who has already been exposed to the story and characters gets hooked on. It's mind boggling that, like Brittney commented, it is rare that Scout and her friends hardly ever venture out of their comfort zone and leave the gates of their homes.
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