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Examples Of Mindlessness In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Mind over Mankind
In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the view changing novel by Harper Lee, very few families in Maycomb live luxuriously, and every person has their own way of making life easier. This is crucial, as they live in a town where people's actions are scrutinized merely for entertainment. Those who strive for beauty are selfish, yet those who are less vain are pigs. Those who care about their families are mindless while those who have their own opinions are heartless. Raising children based upon one’s own beliefs is brainwashing, but at the same time allowing them to grow on their own is irresponsible. In all of these situations, characters realize that the only way to thrive is to follow their own beliefs and accept that not everyone will agree. Through the social rebellions of Mayella, Dill, and Atticus, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird brings …show more content…

Only Mayella, the oldest and most educated, sees that she doesn’t need to live like this. She sometimes wishes that her family could be better, but they beat her when she says such thoughts aloud. The only way she is able to show her kindness is through “six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for… tenderly…”(Lee 228). However small these flowers may seem, they are infinitely meaningful to Mayella. She risks being beaten every day and takes time out of her schedule, all so she can bring beauty into her home when no one else is willing. These flowers bring to light her secretive desire to live amongst clean, kind people. If only she had had the willpower to go against her father in court, she could have been freed at last from her life. Alas, the familiarity of the Ewell family dynamic is difficult to escape, so she continues to live there as an outsider. She may have made some regrettable choices during the trial, but through the flowers Mayella has proven that she is a warm-hearted

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