How To Kill a Mockingbird Pertains to My Life

You know when you were a little kid and your one greatest fear was the monster under the bed? Or how you wouldn't go on the monkey bars because you never had before and they were just so huge? It was this fear of the unknown that would keep you awake at night, and for me still does. Like what is going to happen in the future, what score I'm going to get on the test I just took, or how my friend is going to act when I tell her that I accidentally lost her favorite bracelet. That is the scariest thing, how the unknown has so many outcomes that could be bad or good, and you have no clue which one it will be. This idea is what my life has in common with the book To Kill a Mockingbird.



In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is terrified of Boo Radley. He is her unknown, her monster under the bed. He lives in a house, all by himself, and he never comes out. She has never seen what Boo looks like or what his personality is like, so she pictures the worst. The people that live in town aren't helping her fear either. They gossip about Boo, making up stories about how he goes around and peeps into peoples windows and freezes their flowers. The only reason i can think of that would justify these people's actions are that maybe they are scared too. The unknown causes a life long fear that seems to just be part of human nature. Because Boo lives all by himself and keeps to himself, he kick starts the fear of the unknown inside people, and gets disrespected and teased in return.

So in my life, the unknown is my Boo. And this book has taught me that maybe the unknown isn't as scary as it seems. It's not always as bad as it could be. Maybe if you get over your fear of the unknown and try something new, you'll find out you are good at it or that you like it. Just like when Scout found out that Boo was actually a really nice guy, and that he's just not as forthcoming about it as others. I will remember this lesson the next time this fear comes up, like the next time i here a growl from under the bed...