To Kill a Mockingbird #1

Each day you are forced to make difficult decisions. You are forced to decide if you are going to stand up, or blend in. As children, you believe very much of what your parents also believe in. When somebody says something that goes against what you were raised to believe, your instincts set in. It is in that moment that you say something that you are going to regret. Maybe you don't regret it, and maybe it is then, that you make somebody think like they never thought before.

Jean is a young girl growing up in the 1930's in a small town in Alabama. She is not your average girl though; she has grown up with more relationships with other guys. Jean is not afraid to have a voice, or use vulgar language at that. She owns a gun, and is not afraid to adventure. But, her words and her thoughts occasionally get her into trouble.

On page 110 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean's cousin Francis began an argument on Christmas by saying "If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that's his own business, like Grandma says, so it ain't your fault. I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family". Of course, like most people, Jean did not respond very ladylike. The first thing that she said was "Francis, what the hell do you mean?"(Page 110)

Later that evening while Jean's uncle Jack was cleaning her injured knuckles, she asked him what a whore-lady was. Jack responded without telling her what it really had meant and by covering it up with a story. These few comments, changed how her uncle Jack perceived children and his thoughts on marriage. Jean overheard a conversation that Uncle Jack was having with her father Atticus. It is then that Jack says that " Your daughter gave me my first lessons this afternoon. She said I didn't understand children much and told me why. She told me how I should've treated her-Oh dear, I'm so sorry I romped on her."(Page 115)

Jack reflected on the things that he had done. He recognized how in over his head he was when it came to dealing with children. It is incredible how the one small argument had affected so many people that Jean had been around. She stood up for what she believed in and made a major impact on many peoples lives because of it. I believe that the moral of this section in the story is that you can choose to stand out and impact other people or you can observe and not leave a footprint or change how other people believe.