In the novel of The Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she develops the idea that gossip is what creates a society through rumors and gossip. Gossip is nothing new, people have done it throughout time, and nothing changes about that in To Kill A Mockingbird. In the small town of Maycomb, gossip causes everyone trouble in some way, shape or form.
Mrs. Stephanie Crawford happens to be the cause of most of the gossip in this story this time around. She spreads gossip quick through Maycomb and hardly anyone lives a private life. Mrs. Crawford spreads gossip about Boo Radley causing him to be labelled as crazy and such due to false rumors like him killing/eating cats, peeping through neighbourhood windows, and more. Boo Radley supposedly stabbed his father when he was younger, and the real reason he stays inside is because he and his father want him to be inside. But he stays in the house so much that Mrs. Crawford rumors that he is dead, even though he is alive and perfectly fine.
Though Boo is rumored to be dead, his father Mr. Radley actually is dying which brings Boo’s older brother to town from Pensacola. While Dill is in town, he dares Jem to go and touch the Radley house, but Jem protests that Boo is 6’6″ and eats cats and squirrels, and explains how Boo’s tracks are sometimes in the backyard and that he scratched on their screen porch one time.
All of Jem’s stories are examples of how Mrs. Crawford spread gossip and rumors about Boo, which are clearly untrue but cause Jem to be scared to go and touch the Radley house in broad daylight, for fear of getting eaten and killed by Boo. These types of gossip and rumor make the story particularly interesting and the plot filled with trouble because with many of the townspeople believing they made up facts about people, it often causes conflict between them or misunderstandings and unwarranted fear. Everyone’s fear of Boo Radley is unwarranted, and that is the problem with gossiping; it creates someone’s future, appearance and emotions in a society, community and groups.

Pg 188: “I got something to say and ‘then I ain’t gonna say no more. That Nigger yonder took advantage of me, an’ if you fine fancy gentleman don’t want to do nothing about it then you’re all stinking yellow belly cowards, stinkin’ cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don’t come to nothin’- your ma’amin’ and Miss Mayellerin’ don’t come to nothin’, Mr. Finch-. Then she burst into real tears. Her shoulders shook with angry sobs. She was as good as her word. She answered no more questions, even when Mr. Glimmer tried to get her back on track. I guess if she hadn’t been so poor and ignorant, Judge Taylor would have put her under the jail for the contempt she had shown everybody in the courtroom. Somehow, Atticus had hit her hard in a way that was not clear to me, but it gave him no pleasure to do so. He sat with his head down, and I never saw anybody glare at anyone with the hatred Mayella showed when she left and stand and walked by Atticus’s table.”

The description and look of Mayella we get from the perspective from Scout gives us a sad girl who’s tough and hard on the outside but soft and unsupportive in the inside; like an egg. Atticus however breaks this egg and gets the true emotions from it meanwhile it tries to recover itself by giving a firm point. We see that these words are a desperate outcry by Mayella. She knows that she’s lying but is determined that she’s sticking to her story she is selfishly putting young Toms Robinsons like at risk, she is morally wrong.

In another part of the novel that links to another chapter is Jem. We see from the part when Dill dares Jem to go up to the Radly’s place. Jem is scared, but of course Jem, being a dare devil, could never take down a dare. We see another hardshell egg; hard on the outside, but soft in the inside.

This incident is linked to the theme moral education. Mayella has no sense of moral education because she has been brought up in the company of her evil father Bob Ewell and witnessed his way of dealing with things; the way he gives white lies to get away with situations. Then we see that Harper Lee uses dialogue to reveal Mayella’s character to us in more detail. Her morals are wrong and horrid. Thus so, Mayella acts upon these ways because of her influential father. Another moral we see is innocence and young mind. It says, “Somehow, Atticus had hit her hard in a way that was not clear to me.” Scout with her young mind only sees the main point in things, but cannot see between the lines of how Atticus does what he does. We can also relate Mayella to Scouts young mind. They’re both hypnotised by Atticus’s ways.

The poem by Rudyard Kipling “If” relates to a few characters in the novel of The Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, including; Bob Ewell, Tom Robinson, and Atticus Finch. The book poem starts off as a stabled life when it is not. Tom Robinson is an African- American man who is segregated by the whites of 1933. Of course it is a hard life for Tom, being told what to do without many choices. Comparing the novel to the poem, we see a similarity.

The poem is about someone being a scapegoat; everyone is blaming problems in it, however life can still go on, as long as your head is up and the big goal is there. Just like Tom Robinson; he has been a scapegoat his whole life, since he came to Alabama. In the poem “If” it states, “But make allowance for their doubting too.” Make allowance refers to a reward that you get from working hard however; it also says “their doubting” which is negative attitude. If anyone could make allowance from a doubting, I would consider that an achievement of gold statue, just like how Tom Robinson has.

In second stanzas, you get a toxic, evil and negative feeling. It says, “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.” Getting from this, you see that Bob Ewell is in the same position. What he has done has gone through is both triumph in an evil way, and of course disaster. When put together, you get Bob Ewell. It also states, “Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.” Relating this, we see a connection of Bob’s plans are twisted in such a way making it a trap for the creator; also known as himself. Bob’s plan is to frame Tom Robinson for the rape of his daughter; but in reality, he was just a fool that cannot come across himself.

Like it says in the poem, “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,” it is Atticus the man of virtue; fighting for what is right. It is in no hope and faith that Tom Robinson will win against a white man, Bob Ewell, due to Tom’s state. However, Atticus still goes on; fighting against his society, his community, his race, and his righteousness. The whole poem comes to this last sentence, “And- which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!” This poem is about the raging lions fighting, defending, and solving what is right and logical. It is for all fathers to show their sons what it is like to live a true life. Atticus and his son Jem will be that generation of lions.

Rudyard Kipling stresses the word “If” in the beginning of every stanza. The whole poem is about if faith, if evil, if perseverance and if fighting for what is right is like. This is what every human being is as well; no matter what color, what race, what age or what gender someone is. Everybody is the same inside and out.

Today, just about 3 and a half hour ago, I read an article on six types cheating/love affairs. Once I saw the headline, I was MIND BLOWN by the unpleasant amount of categories there were on cheating. Personally, I would think there was at least two or three, but six?! Incredible. I’ll be talking about all six categories simply and how I felt about them!

Cheating type #1- High Sexual Drive: Did you know that by the age of 19, 70% of them have had intercourse?! This is why this type caught my eye the most, mostly because of the handful amount of high sex drives in teenage years. In the article, it says, “Once a cheater always a cheater,” they’re called serial cheaters! It is addicting to have new affairs, typically in men. In romantic movies, I’ve noticed that every man in the relationship have had an affair, this is probably where they got their plot from.

Cheating type #2- Good Looks and Social Skills: This type had never occurred in my life; haven’t seen it, or heard of it, but this is what it says, “To put it in one word, attractiveness is a factor in a person’s likelihood to cheat and in the statistics of cheating. The more attractive a person is the more he is likely to cheat. Attractiveness includes good looks, social skills and resources (like money). A person having all of these is more in demand and thus has more opportunities to cheat.” When you think about this, you probably think of the movie “Arthur” because of the rich playboy that gets whatever he wants, then he cheat because of it.

Cheating type #3- Freedoms and Opportunity: This is about spouses that have more time on their hands; the more time they have, the more likely they would cheat. Referring to husbands on business trips, they have much more time on their hands, and then it leads to love affairs. I’ve come to a conclusion to avoid this; spend as much time with your spouse as much as you can, and nothing will happen!

Cheating type #4- Personal Attitude towards Love and Relationship: This stuff is serious. In every relationship, there are two partners; each partner may be fully faithful with one another and treat it as a sacred bond, however, there is another situation where one may be faithful, but the other one is on the total opposite side of things. This situation causes emotions to be thrown around, and in some cases, it can be so serious that it leads to suicide.

Cheating type #5- The Philander: What?! This is what it states in the article, “Some people just thing they are entitled to cheat. Their general opinions about gender roles, about their role in society or their cultural upbringing make them believe they have a right to cheat. This type of person is more likely to cheat and also to not feel any remorse or guilt about its actions.” To me, this seems absurd; tell me what you think this is or if you’ve been in this situation in the comments!

Cheating type#6- The Sexual Anxiety Sufferer: This type is kind of like the first type, High Sexual Drive; people have affairs, then problems occur. Anxiety is a serious problem in the world of our 21stcentury. It consists of ongoing worry and tension, being edgy, irritable, muscle tension, headaches, sweating, nausea, etc.

I’ve learnt A LOT about love affairs and cheating, and hopefully you did too! However, this is just an essay, but hopefully you see the consequences and in the future, you won’t come across these horrid issues!

The play, “Romeo and Juliet,” is a tragedy written by Shakespeare about two young “star crossed lovers” who come to their death to unite the two feuding families; the provoking Montague and the fearless Capulet. Love, a major motif in the play, is the main idea passing through the story. The love between son Montague, Romeo; and the daughter of Capulet, Juliet is first brought up from love at first sight at the house of Capulet’s house party.

Love at first sight is a romantic and wonderful feeling that two people get, but it is hazardous if the two people have a feud against each family; however, when two lovers lay their eyes upon each other, the connection is unbreakable. You know what they say, love at first sight is a trope to relate to a person, character or speaker that feels a romantic attraction for a stranger on the first sight of them; such a powerful emotion.

Such love can be presented in this day in 21st century as “overused” or “meaningless,” but back in 1591, where Shakespeare first wrote “Romeo and Juliet”, the word love was a powerful word that can only be used if you truly loved someone. For example; you would know if you truly loved your partner, you would take a bullet for them, as western cultures would say.

As a teenager like myself, I’ve related Romeo and Juliet to my personal experiences of relationships; such as my family relationships, friend relationships and girlfriend/boyfriend relationships.  You can say that relationships with family members have an automatic love placed into your system, while a friend relationship and girlfriend/boyfriend relationships can be considered as “star crossed” or simply, fooled. There’s always a fight in a relationship, that’s what makes it grow; it grows spiritually, mentally, and physically, which is an intense feeling to have.

Sometimes love can be replaced because love is not a frequent emotion in your life, so you’ll need someone to fill that love gap. In Scene 1 Act 1, we learn about Romeo and how he is not given back the love he desires from Rosaline. Perhaps Romeo’s love gap is created from Rosaline?

Love is an incredible concept in life, it can be considered wonderful, or a doom to life; it also can create the characteristics of a person or character. The play Romeo and Juliet’s main motif is Love, and emotion of strong affection and personal attachment.