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Jessica Bilchick

Mrs. Akers

English 10

6 September 2017

A Candle to Light the Darkness

Life is a constant battle between darkness and light. When the clouds roll over the skies,

casting the world in black, and thunder makes the very ground beneath our feet tremble, it seems

that darkness has won. However, it is in complete darkness that the flickering candle shines

brightest. The setting in Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird, a deep-south town in Alabama rife

with racism and prey to the infamous Jim Crow laws, provides a dark contrast to the innocent

glow of Scouts innocence and Atticuss compassion. Lee uses Atticus to illustrate the kind of

dignified civility that could prevent wars if everyone followed suit, and Scout to show that one

must understand another before being fit to pass judgement.

For Atticus Finch, the choice is very simple: to do either the right or the popular thing. If

your fathers anything, says Miss Maudie, hes civilized at heart (130). Atticus is the deadest

shot in all Maycomb, but he believes his gun to be an unfair advantage over animals and does

not use it. He has twice the brains of Ewell and ten times the money, and yet he does not look

down on Ewell, a destitute, uneducated man. When he calls Ewell trash, he is not referring to his

income or his intelligence, but to his callousness in taking advantage of another, weaker person,

something unforgivable in Atticuss book. He would be justified in loathing Ewell, but rather

than lower himself to Ewells standard, which would be wrong, he turns the other cheek. Though
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the supposed finest gentlemen in society look down on Atticus as strange, he is closest to a

gentleman of any man in the book, owing to the dignified civility with which he treats others.

Though she is an innocent young child, Scout provides the best example in the book of

objectivity, using an unbiased lens to view humanity. When it comes down to it, humans find

their identity in their brains. Tom Robinsons personality does not come from the dark hue of his

skin, so it is ludicrous to categorize him as a troublemaker based solely on his race. The people

of Maycomb society, however, live by a certain set of unspoken rules, which it is impossible to

break without disgracing oneself in society, and so they do not stray far from their traditional,

racist way of thinking. Scout, however, was never taught to believe in these corrupt rules, and so,

seeing them as they are, she breaks them easily. She wants to visit Calpurnia, a hired Negro, in

her home, and have Walter Cunningham, a wild, unkempt boy, over to play, but she does not see

them this way. She has nothing against Walter as long as he proves a fun playmate or against

Calpurnia as long as she is good company when Jem is off playing with Dill. Scout exemplifies

the sort of objectivity that the jury lacks when it sentences Tom Robinson to death.

Throughout the novel, Harper uses brilliantly crafted characters, many of whom would

not be seen fit to appear in proper society, to teach her audience to behave with Atticuss

dignified civility, and to see others with Scouts nave objectivity. If the world can do this,

perhaps it can finally reach past that dense cloud of fear and prejudice that hangs heavily around

them and tear down the coat of darkness that obscures from them true sunlight. We must not get

so used to the storm that we forget it is there, lest we remain in darkness forever.