To Kill A Mockingbird: Reader's Notebook #2/3

You remember back in my last reader's notebook, when I said

"...because I am actually enjoying it..." ~ Carter, May 10th 2015

Yes? Well guess what, now that I have read the rest of the book, I retract my previous quote and replace it with this one.

"This book sucks." ~ Carter, May 30th 2015, #getwrektTKAM

That's right, I've actually changed my mind about something. Me, Carter, the most stubborn person that I know actually changed his perspective on something. Surprising, but here's 3 reasons why I really changed my mind on how stupid this book is.

1. Jem
2. Scout
3. Atticus

These 3 characters have such a screwed up family that I am still processing what each one was thinking throughout the story. So here is my explanation of frustration towards each character.

Jem
To be fair, Jem is a horrible character. Every chapter, he changes his mind on everything, from what kinds of people there are and whether certain people are evil or not. I can not stand characters like this, as they seem to always ruin whatever I think is gonna happen next, and I hate being wrong! Like when he says on page 304, "That's what I thought, too." Seriously stop changing your mind already! Now, before anyone complains that Jem has a soul (Which I don't think he does), I do believe that he is a necessary character. Now when I say necessary, this does not mean that I have to like them even a little, even though they are needed in the story.

Scout
Its not that I don't like Scout, but it is the stuff people expect of her. Everyone treats her as dumb, or that she doesn't understand things, or even that she is to young to see certain things. And Harper Lee uses Scout as a way to explain events in the story, allowing other characters to verbally explain events and concepts, or to show that the current event should be represented as so bad that young people should look away. This is just lazy, for instance on page 231 Reverend Sykes tells Jem, "you better take Miss Jean Louise home. Mr. Jem, you hear me?" This tells us to buckle down and pay attention, as the next part of the story includes parts that may be disturbing to certain underage readers. As much respect as I have for authors who give warnings, I like books that give plot twists or events with no warning, making it so you seriously need to take an hour after reading and go cry in a corner because your favorite character died.

(By the way, this happens to me a lot, and I have no clue why I enjoy the books or respect the authors for tearing away a fictional character which I loved for maybe 24 hours before they died.)

Atticus
Like father, like son. I can't stand his name for one thing, and he seriously needs to simplify everything he does. I had to read page 352-370 three times to fully understand what just happened. And really this is a quote, but it would take up a ton of pages so I won't put it on here, but the whole entire argument between Atticus and Mr. Tate was all over the place and hard to follow along with. And even at the end of the book, I still don't even really get what Atticus seriously did to help progress the book much. Not to mention he's a terrible father.

Conclusion
Finishing this book, I seriously am confused at what happened. I am pretty sure that I missed some huge conclusion reference in the last couple of pages, as I was distracted at being mad that BOO RADLEY, the character who was built up to be all that, shows up for only about 10 pages and does almost nothing. I don't even get what he represents towards the end of the book, if it be anything.

So to be fair, I actually thought that this book was called "How To Kill A Mockingbird" before we started reading it. And guess what this book is about, that killing mockingbirds is bad! So in the end, remember that when in Rome... wait sorry, Julius Caesar was last month. Basically, when reading TKAM, realize that you will be frustrated with everything that happens. But look on the bright side, now you know that Alabama isn't a very good setting for a book.

To Kill A Mockingbird: Reader's Notebook #1

To be fair, I seriously thought this book was going be boring. In 4th or 5th grade (I can't remember which) we read a book that took place in the times of war when America was young. I can't remember the title, but in short, it sucked. It had a horrible plot that jumped around a ton, following many years of a boys life who loved fossils. In the end, he died to a lightning strike because of dinosaur bones, when he had tried to bring some home from a field during a lightning storm.

This taught me three things.
   1. Don't trust books that take place during young America.
   2. Books that have a hundred pages or so that look short are lying to your face. If you aren't                    interested in them, then it feels like 1000 pages.
   3. Boys back before I was born were idiots.

So when I saw "To Kill A Mockingbird", I went through a mental checklist.

"Well, it looks to be a little more then 100 pages."
*Turns to back of book and reads description*
"Well it takes place in young America."
*Flips through first couple of pages*
"And it has quite a few young boys... I'm no English professor, but I think these may be the exact same thing!"
~Carters thoughts, Day 5346, Time 9:05 am

So these were the thought running through my head on Day 5346 of my life. But then, just like Chuck Yaegar when he broke the sound barrier, this book broke the set of rules that had been in my head since the 4th or 5th grade. For once, I am actually enjoying something that used to be poison to me. Almost like Jem on page 80-81, when "Less then 2 weeks later we found a whole package of chewing gum, which we enjoyed, the fact that everything on the Radley Place was poison having slipped Jems memory."

And I guess I owe that to page 29, where Scout expresses her frustration about her teacher, "Saved by the bell, Miss Caroline watched the class filter out for lunch. As I was the last to leave, I saw her sink down into her chair and bury her head in her arms. Had her conduct been more friendly to me, I would have felt sorry for her." I relate to this because I have had trouble with a handful of teachers when it comes to respect for each other.

So after reading page 29, I started to read more. I feel bad for judging this book by its cover, because I am actually enjoying it, and to be fair I do think it deserves its Pulitzer Prize. When Scout says "If the remainder of the school year was fraught with drama as the first day, perhaps it would be mildly entertaining, but the prospect of spending nine months refraining from reading and writing made me think of running away." on page 37, I couldn't help but think that if I had skipped 4th or 5th grade, then I wouldn't have judged this book as bad, just like if she had skipped first grade then she wouldn't have had to learn how to read and write all over again.