Opinion on To Kill a Mockingbird and Ghosts of Mississippi Essay Example
I enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird more than Ghosts of Mississippi. I liked To Kill a Mockingbird more because its characters were better described and grew throughout the story. Jem’s personality and growth, Scout’s character and change in the novel, and the lack of character description in Ghosts of Mississippi led me to this conclusion. First, in To Kill a Mockingbird, I became close to the characters, especially Jem. I liked seeing not only physically, but in his personality and attitude as well. He was taught to have respect for his elders, even if he didn’t like them.
He learned this lesson after he was done reading to an elderly drug addict, Mrs. Dubose. Atticus taught him a Confucius-like lesson on why he should respect her even though she had been mean to him. His respect for Atticus grew af
...ter he witnessed him shoot the rabid dog, Tim Johnson, between the eyes. He saw that his dad actually was admirable and he took Atticus’s lesson more seriously after that event. He especially took Atticus’s mockingbird lesson to heart. He wouldn’t kill a bug that he found in the house because it didn’t hurt anything. He is the more introverted and cognitive thinker of the two young Finches.
I grew to like Jem because of these things and he became my favorite character. Getting to know characters’ personalities like this really added to my experience of reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Another reason why I enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird is because of Scout’s attitudes and personal growth throughout the novel. She had a childish innocence at the beginning of the book. An example of her innocence can
be found when she tried to defend young Walter Cunningham at school and she got in trouble. She was even able to stop a lynch mob at the jail with her innocence.
There, she casually spoke to Mr. Cunningham about how Walter was a good boy and about their family entailments. This event showed that Scout still had a lot to learn. In the front pages, Scout got into fights with Walter and her cousin Francis because of disagreements. She learned to control herself more as the story went on and she became more mature. She showed that she had become more of a lady when she agreed to go to a meeting with the ladies of Maycomb with Aunt Alexandra. I learned to like Scout for who she is and she added a lot to the novel.
The last reason why I prefer To Kill a Mockingbird over Ghosts of Mississippi is that Ghosts of Mississippi has less character detail and development. I couldn’t really get to know a lot of the supporting roles in the movie. For example, I didn’t get to know Mr. Delaughter’s kids. I can’t even remember their names. Their main role in the film was to bring out Mr. Delaughter’s parenting abilities and personality. The scene where his daughter is afraid of ghosts is needed to show his skills as a father. This is also true when his son got in a fight because of the trial. Here they were going for an Atticus-like teaching moment.
I would have liked to know more about Bobby Delaughter’s first wife to know if she was always so mean and racist. I wish I could
have known the kids’ thought on the divorce. In the end, I liked To Kill a Mockingbird more than Ghosts of Mississippi. Character personalities and development played a big part in my opinion. Harper Lee just did a great job of describing Jem and Scout. I really got into the book this way. I couldn’t say that I connected with the characters in Ghosts of Mississippi. Jem and Scout played great roles in the book and To Kill a Mockingbird turned out great for a mandatory read.
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