While reading the first nine chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) by Harper Lee, I felt myself gradually getting more intrigued. Something that particularly interests me, is the mysteriousness of the Radley House. Secrets and “secret lives” are my english class’s main focus while reading this book, and I definitely sense a great amount of secrets floating around Maycomb. Although the Radley house is the obvious secret, it seems that each character carries their own secret. I also really enjoy how the author includes powerful themes, some hidden and others directly stated. The themes in this story are still relevant today, which also catches my attention. Compared to other books I’ve read, this book is different, because it takes a very close look at human behavior, and what is wrong with society, making it very powerful.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This quote really stood out to me. Not only is it meaningful, but it is still very relevant today. William James, author of “On a Certain Blindness of Human Beings,” would completely agree with this statement. The main idea of his piece was that humans often view themselves as superior, and automatically assume that their values and beliefs are true/right. Brent Staples, author of “Black Men and Public Space,” would also agree. In his piece, he states that people are 
automatically afraid of him, especially women, and at night, because he is black. In this quote from TKAM, Atticus is basically summing up the two authors’ main ideas, saying that people have to stop viewing themselves as superior, and start taking other peoples’ thoughts and feelings into consideration. This quote is also hinting at the fact that people live “secret lives,” for there is always something about someone that you can’t see or don’t know about, which is why you can’t judge someone until you step into their shoes.
A character who really jumps out at me is Boo Radley. Boo Radley starts out in a very negative light. We start out by hearing rumors about him- that he stabbed his father with scissors and joined a gang. He was once locked in the courthouse basement, but now lives at home behind locked doors. People say he goes out at night and peeps in windows, and that when azaleas freeze, it’s because he breathed on them. However, towards the end of the first nine chapters, we see a different side of him. When the neighbors are all outside because of the fire at Miss Maudie’s house, Boo puts a blanket over Scout’s shoulders, without her even realizing it. One might also predict that Boo was the one that folded Jem’s pants and set them on top of the fence, or that he was the one that filled the hole in the tree with items such as yarn and gum for Jem and Scout. Boo’s personal conflict is that he is viewed almost as an animal, even though people know little about him. Rumors spread, and people automatically see the worst in him.
“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom.” This quote from the beginning of the story shows that people hardly view Boo as a human. Due to stories that people have heard and believed, Boo has gotten a horrible reputation that he can’t escape.
“Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you.” This quote from the end of the first nine chapters clearly shows Boo’s transition. Readers have gone from viewing him as a bad person, to rethinking whether what people think about him is actually true or just a rumor and he might actually have good intentions. This also shows that people assume the worst about him because they barely know him, since he is living a secret life.
After today’s discussion/lit circle, I learned that almost all the character’s are living a secret life. Although it is obvious that the Radley’s live secret lives, there are also less obvious ones, such as Dill, who we don’t know much about. What we do know, however, 
is that Scout and Francis have heard different things about Dill, and that they each think that what they heard is true, showing that he is also living a secret life. Another question that we talked about was whether the climax would be based on the trial Atticus is working with, or about the Radleys, or if they will both be part of it.
After thinking about Boo’s transition throughout the first nine chapters, I came up with the question, “did the characters in the novel choose to live secret lives?” It seems that Boo doesn’t want to be behind closed doors anymore, and is suddenly making an effort to get people to view him differently. It appears to me that he didn’t want this secret life, and is now trying to escape it.
For information on racial tensions in the 1930s, check out the following websites:
timeline: racialinjustice.eji.org/timeline/1930s
news article on racial segregation and TKAM: dailyprogress.com/…/article_fdb7d674-1695-11e8-ae3f-b369c88fd7ef
Words of Wisdom 