Last Sunday, I watched the movie To Kill a Mockingbird staring Gregory Peck. For those of you who haven't seen it, I recommend that you add it to the list of movies to see before you die. I had read the book in middle school but that was almost 10 years ago. I realized that I didn't remember a single thing about the book, so I decided it was time for a reread. I've been reading it for the past week and am a little over halfway done. I'm glad I recently watched the movie because now when I'm reading I can visualize Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and all the other characters as they appear in the movie. I am a very visual person so that can make it hard for me to visualize some things by just reading about them (this does not make reading any less enjoyable for me). This is why it is sometimes beneficial for me to watch the movie before I read the book. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story told from the perspective of Scout, a young tomboy girl growing up during the depression. She has an older brother named Jem who she looks up to. During the summer a boy named Dill spends his time next door. Dill and Scout are engaged, and Dill exclaims that he will never love another woman. Her father is Atticus Finch who is a lawyer. I have read that Harper Lee actually based the character of Atticus on her father. Scout and Jem's mother died when they were younger so the family is helped by a Negro housekeeper named Cal. Down the street lives a mysterious family: the Radleys. Their son Boo never leaves the house and many days the children spend trying to draw him out. There are several more secondary characters; however, I am going to talk about one in particular: Miss Maudie. Miss Maudie is a neighbor of Scout and Jem who spends the majority of her time tending to her flowers. She forges a strong relationship with the children allowing them to play in her yard and spending time with Scout when Jem feels he's outgrown his younger sister. She's frank and honest, but not in a mean way. One night her house catches fire, and the entire neighborhood works to save as many of her possessions as possible from her house. Firefighters are unable to save it. The next day the children go to see Miss Maudie who is working in her garden. Her house was all she had. They expected her to be upset. Instead. "[...] the shadow of her old grin crossed her face. 'Always wanted a smaller house, Jem Finch. Gives me more yard. Just think, I'll have more room for my azaleas now!'" Here who is woman who has seemingly lost everything looking on the bright side of things. People have felt a whole lot sorrier for themselves for a whole lot less. There are some things that a person just cannot change. There is no point in lamenting that fact. A person may not be able to control everything about their life, but they can control what they do about it. I want to be more like Miss Maudie. It's time to stop dwelling on our circumstances and start asking, "What am I going to do about it?"
Reading log:
Monday-10:00 pm -10:30 pm
Wednesday-9:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Thursday-10:30 pm-11:30 pm
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