To Kill a Mocking Bird

This is the essay I wrote after reading "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee. Personally, I thought the book was funny and enjoyable, even though everyone knows about it.


You should definitely read the book before you read this

The High Road

            As the reader knows, the final chapters of Harper Lee's world renowned To Kill a Mocking Bird, left Atticus Finch and Heck Tate with a perplexing decision between legal justice and moral empathy. Providentially for Arthur Radley (Boo), the two men made the right choice. Rather that following classic protocol, they concluded that the reclusive Radley brothers should be left to live out their days in undisturbed tranquility.

            The book so profoundly and concisely states that Arthur was not brought to court because it would be like killing a mocking bird to do so. Arthur had never hurt anyone, lied, stolen, or for that matter, interacted with any human besides his brother in decades.  To drag him into court for defending the children he had watched grow up, seemed harsh to the two men. Mr. Finch and the sheriff didn't want Arthur's welcome into Maycomb's culture to be a unsettling court case full of staring eyes,  pointing fingers, and deranged assumptions. Considering Arthur's rather odd behavior on the night of the incident, perhaps the two men thought it would be a shock to his system.  if was nearly afraid of a little girl.

            This is where another important aspect of the scenario comes into play. An illation can be drawn that Boo was mentally challenged or disabled. His abnormal behavior was, no doubt, one of the reasons for his lifelong seclusion. Atticus and Heck realized that such an straining occurrence of enduring a courtroom trial would destroy Arthur's carefully balanced and calm routine of life. This would have caused him severe trauma and possibly mental destabilization. Undoubtedly it was better to let the Radley's remain as they had been: quiet and solitary.

            One final reason proving that two men were correct in their decision is the most convincing. On several occasions in the Bible, God has not condemned lying, but only in rare circumstances where an individual risked their lives by lying to save someone else's life. In the book of Joshua, Rahab risked her life for the Israelite spies by saying, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from... When it was time to close the gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went," (Joshua 2:4,5). Because she lied and spared God's servants, she was spared in Jericho's destruction. In the situation of Arthur Radley, Mr. Finch, and Heck Tate, the sheriff and lawyer decided to cloak Arthur's involvement in the crime scene in order to prevent him from becoming the central point of Maycomb's attention and public exposure. 

            Although many more conclusions can be drawn and ideas created from the thrilling novel To Kill a Mocking Bird, it is obvious that Finch and Tate compassionately swept Arthur under the rug on that fateful night, right where he was most content. This is because Arthur was mentally handicapped and couldn't handle a county full of eyes upon his back, because he had never been involved in public or private affairs before, and because it is sometimes right to lie if it is not a selfish lie and protects someone else. In conclusion, Atticus and Heck made a difficult decision, but chose the high road of moral empathy for a gentle soul in the community.