Opening Doors of Sickness
Sickness plagues our world, whether someone is ailing, mentally ill, or morally disgusting. It is one of the more miserable aspects of being human, and we’ve all had to experience it. In Maycomb, a fictional town that serves as the setting and as a character in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, “closed doors meant sickness and cold weather only.” (Harper Lee, pg 11) This is so that the ill person could be in hiding from the rest of Maycomb. Doors are closed for all kinds of diseases, but opening one leads to empathy and understanding.
Mrs. Dubose presents herself very differently indoors and outdoors because she hides her sickness. Whenever Jem and Scout pass by her house, she would be sitting on her porch, yelling at them and criticizing every little thing they say. She was dubbed “the meanest old woman who ever lived,” but when Scout eventually goes inside, she sees …show more content…
At first, it seems like Nathan Radley is trying to hide Boo and perhaps Boo Radley is mentally ill. This idea fits with how Jem and Scout hear Maycomb describe Boo: as a malevolent lunatic. However, Boo does many kind-hearted things for Jem and Scout; one instance of this is when he leaves them gifts in a knothole in a tree in the Radley yard. But then, Nathan Radley plugs up the knothole, telling Jem that the tree is sick when it’s actually perfectly healthy. Eventually, however, “the trunk was swelling around its cement patch. The patch itself was turning yellow.” What Nathan Radley does to the tree is a microcosm for how he treats Boo: imprisoning someone who he mistakenly thinks is sick, but this imprisonment is what causes Boo to look sickly. So it seems to me that Nathan Radley is actually the malevolent, lunatic, and sick brother, which is confirmed when Boo finally opens the door to save Jem and
Sickness plagues our world, whether someone is ailing, mentally ill, or morally disgusting. It is one of the more miserable aspects of being human, and we’ve all had to experience it. In Maycomb, a fictional town that serves as the setting and as a character in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, “closed doors meant sickness and cold weather only.” (Harper Lee, pg 11) This is so that the ill person could be in hiding from the rest of Maycomb. Doors are closed for all kinds of diseases, but opening one leads to empathy and understanding.
Mrs. Dubose presents herself very differently indoors and outdoors because she hides her sickness. Whenever Jem and Scout pass by her house, she would be sitting on her porch, yelling at them and criticizing every little thing they say. She was dubbed “the meanest old woman who ever lived,” but when Scout eventually goes inside, she sees …show more content…
At first, it seems like Nathan Radley is trying to hide Boo and perhaps Boo Radley is mentally ill. This idea fits with how Jem and Scout hear Maycomb describe Boo: as a malevolent lunatic. However, Boo does many kind-hearted things for Jem and Scout; one instance of this is when he leaves them gifts in a knothole in a tree in the Radley yard. But then, Nathan Radley plugs up the knothole, telling Jem that the tree is sick when it’s actually perfectly healthy. Eventually, however, “the trunk was swelling around its cement patch. The patch itself was turning yellow.” What Nathan Radley does to the tree is a microcosm for how he treats Boo: imprisoning someone who he mistakenly thinks is sick, but this imprisonment is what causes Boo to look sickly. So it seems to me that Nathan Radley is actually the malevolent, lunatic, and sick brother, which is confirmed when Boo finally opens the door to save Jem and