“You will never know what's behind my skull… You will never know what's under my skin”-Tyler Joseph. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, a group of men go to lynch Tom Robinson because of his skin color. Though innocent of the crime he was convicted for, they felt he was guilty because they couldn’t see past the melanin pigmentation in his skin. In this excerpt, Scout learns through Mr. Walter Cunningham Sr.'s clear discomfort but end reaction to her conversation making skills, that true maturity is realizing that people are people, and it's best to treat them as such.
After one of the protagonists of this influential novel speaks to Walter Cunningham, Scout jumps into the middle of the circle, and the “smell of stale whiskey…” (203) led her to look around and realize that “...these men were strangers” (203). Metaphorically, the mob is a representation of careless violence. The attempted brutality not only only represents physical harm, but also mental cruelty, and the racism in the town. In Maycomb, in the middle of the town, in the middle of a mob, you will find racism, even if it is not said in this excerpt. Scout finds herself in the middle of onslaught and racism, and is still able to be kind to whomever she knows, even while realizing that he may hurt her, her father, her brother, her friend, and an innocent man locked away in the county jail. Prior to this, an unknown and shadowed persona says, “You know what we want...get aside” (202). But just pages later, after Scout talks to Mr. Cunningham while the rest of the canaille watch, they leave without harming anyone. A mob is a strange place to learn a life lesson, and a strange time for a grown man to learn from a small child. Scout treats Mr. Cunningham as a person, and in turn he treats Tom Robinson as best as he knows how to, and calls off the lynching and the mob. The phrase “actions speak louder than words” is sound, though not always true, because every now and again, speaking, silent …show more content…
Cunningham, she asks about his son and entailment, as if they passed one another on the street. By doing this, he is able to see a little girl treat him kindly, and realizes what the folks of “Ol’ Sarum” are doing is unjust. The internal conflict going on inside Mr. Cunningham is clear. As Scout begins the conversation with him, he “...blinked and hooked his thumbs in his overall straps.” (204). He came with a plan in mind, and his plan was to lynch Tom Robinson. But as soon as Jean Louise attempted to strike up a conversation with him, his discomfort became clear, as if he wasn’t sure he really wanted to kill Tom. Mr. Cunningham’s uneasy nature in the section of selection is displayed once again when he “shifted his feet, clad in heavy work shoes” (205). The internal conflict within Walter Cunningham is eventually resolved when he shouts for everyone to go home. Through Scout’s simple conversation with her friends father she was able to change the course of this entire novel, and was able to see that to call people to their wits she has to know what's in their skull, and under their skin. People are people, no matter their skin, no matter what it seems they’ve done, and despite what they might
After one of the protagonists of this influential novel speaks to Walter Cunningham, Scout jumps into the middle of the circle, and the “smell of stale whiskey…” (203) led her to look around and realize that “...these men were strangers” (203). Metaphorically, the mob is a representation of careless violence. The attempted brutality not only only represents physical harm, but also mental cruelty, and the racism in the town. In Maycomb, in the middle of the town, in the middle of a mob, you will find racism, even if it is not said in this excerpt. Scout finds herself in the middle of onslaught and racism, and is still able to be kind to whomever she knows, even while realizing that he may hurt her, her father, her brother, her friend, and an innocent man locked away in the county jail. Prior to this, an unknown and shadowed persona says, “You know what we want...get aside” (202). But just pages later, after Scout talks to Mr. Cunningham while the rest of the canaille watch, they leave without harming anyone. A mob is a strange place to learn a life lesson, and a strange time for a grown man to learn from a small child. Scout treats Mr. Cunningham as a person, and in turn he treats Tom Robinson as best as he knows how to, and calls off the lynching and the mob. The phrase “actions speak louder than words” is sound, though not always true, because every now and again, speaking, silent …show more content…
Cunningham, she asks about his son and entailment, as if they passed one another on the street. By doing this, he is able to see a little girl treat him kindly, and realizes what the folks of “Ol’ Sarum” are doing is unjust. The internal conflict going on inside Mr. Cunningham is clear. As Scout begins the conversation with him, he “...blinked and hooked his thumbs in his overall straps.” (204). He came with a plan in mind, and his plan was to lynch Tom Robinson. But as soon as Jean Louise attempted to strike up a conversation with him, his discomfort became clear, as if he wasn’t sure he really wanted to kill Tom. Mr. Cunningham’s uneasy nature in the section of selection is displayed once again when he “shifted his feet, clad in heavy work shoes” (205). The internal conflict within Walter Cunningham is eventually resolved when he shouts for everyone to go home. Through Scout’s simple conversation with her friends father she was able to change the course of this entire novel, and was able to see that to call people to their wits she has to know what's in their skull, and under their skin. People are people, no matter their skin, no matter what it seems they’ve done, and despite what they might