When Miss Maudie's house burned down, Scout and Jem stood outside watching it while their father helped. It was freezing outside, and when they got back inside, Atticus noticed a new blanket Scout had around her.
"Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know he put the blanket around you." (Page 76)
Boo Radley is known as the town psycho, yet he goes outside in the cold to give a child a blanket. People have said nasty things about him and everyone thinks he eats raw squirrels and stabbed his father. Boo Radley has a moral compass. He knew that Scout was cold, so he helped her. If he actually was a crazy killer, how did he suddenly change to become a generous blanket-giver? I don't think that big of a turn-around is possible, so maybe he wasn't that bad to begin with. People just made him seem bad from the stories they told. I think it's awful that people make stories up about him just because they don't understand something.
Something Scout could do to make the whole Boo Radley situation better is to tell everyone what he did for her. It would definitely earn Boo some respect.
I know that I've made the mistake of judging someone before I've even met them. I trust other people's views and decide that I should feel the same way, even if their views make the person seem bad. I've even told other people false stories about people who actually weren't even bad because I trusted other people's opinions.
Another issue that arose in September of this year that was based on lies was when Donald Trump lied because he was defending himself to make himself look better even though it wasn't a big deal to being with.
Everyone is guilty of judging people by how they look, act or based on what their friends tell them. It might go against our moral compass, but we do it anyways. We get our moral compass from things around us. Watching people do something wrong and not feel guilty about it can sway our moral compass. People getting away with cheating, lying and scamming can change how we view things. It can make us think we can get away with things that used to go against our moral compass, but doesn't anymore, because someone else did it and got away with it.
-M&M
i agree and the picture is funny
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ReplyDeleteMeredith, that's a great example of Boo's "blanketed" morality. I love your line: "If he actually was a crazy killer, how did he suddenly change to become a generous blanket giver?" I did wonder why Scout didn't tell about Boo's kindness!
ReplyDeleteHow would watching people do things you believe are wrong change your own moral compass if you know they are wrong? Do you have an example of something you thought was wrong becoming more acceptable to you?
Maybe she didn't tell about Boo's kindness because she was simply following the behavior of others in her own household. That is where we learn right from wrong, good and bad - Morality and Immorality. Our families of origin are our first contact with the development of our moral compasses;if we witness our family members doing something wrong, we are more likely to follow the same behavior.
DeleteYou have a great point about all the bad things we do in life even though we know it is wrong. Sometimes, as people, I think we feel the need to be like everyone around us, even if we don't agree with how they act. Would it be better to be alone and do the right thing or be with many others and do the wrong thing?
ReplyDeleteThat is the measure of true courage. When you take a stand and do the right thing even if it's unpopular then that makes you a much bigger person than those around you who go along just to get along. Atticus is a prime example; he represented Tom when everyone else hated him for doing so.
DeleteI agree with what you said about we do a lot of bad things and we know that it's wrong. I think that we should really change the way we act and start acting good because all the wrong stuff we do we should have never done. Although we are not perfect and we can do a lot of wrong things, we should at least try to act good.
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