"A Most Invaluable Gift"

A Most Invaluable Gift

             “I don’t pray for you to be happy, but for you to deserve to be happy.”

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a historical novel and bildungsroman, a reader sees the world through the eyes of Scout Finch as she grows up into a world she never realized was so big and bigoted. Scout grew up during the 1930s in Maycomb, a small town in Alabama. The town was just as small as it was small minded. Groupthink plagued everyone who lived there. Social standings and social hierarchies were embedded deeply in the culture. Sexism, racism, ridiculous moral codes and stereotypes were embedded too deeply to fix. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, guided Scout as she grew up in Maycomb’s toxic environment, helping her form a just and moral ideology to live by. He pointed out injustices that Scout may not otherwise have seen: he served as a role model. 

The Maycomb townsfolk were all affected by social status and social hierarchy. Almost everyone’s main concern was the way they were conceived by those around them. Almost everyone went on autopilot, subconsciously thinking: what will make me seem important?; what will make people admire me? Most everything everyone did was to build a desired persona to seem important or admirable. Most everyone was wrapped in their own  world, riddled with insecurities. These insecurities were cause for disaster: everyone seemingly wrapped up in their own world were really wrapped up in one big world, a whole influential culture. 

In attempt to improve their social status, the people of Maycomb would search for ways to elevate themselves over those around them, showcasing the basic human need to fit in and seem important. Some people draw fulfillment from bringing those around them up, and others can only be fulfilled if they think they are better than those around them. This idea is like a disease, “Maycomb’s usual disease” (Lee 100). Once it is perpetuated by one, it starts to engrian itself into a way of life. 

This “disease” was also a contributing factor to racism, sexism, and prejudice. In Maycomb, the need to elevate oneself over others caused white people to look down on Black people. It caused men to look down on women. It caused the educated to look down on the uneducated. It caused rich people to look down on poor people. If someone was different, they were seen as less than. As a poor white person, you were seen as the lowest of lows by your fellow race, but at least you weren’t Black. The Cunninghams and the Ewells, two poor and uneducated white families, were both very racist. They dehumanized Black people so they would be able to live with themselves; so they did not have to be at the complete bottom of the pile. They thought it was better to think of a whole beautiful race as animals; as less than human, in order to elevate themselves. It really is sickening to see all these social standings take purchase, and how greatly this seemingly simple human nature can shift a whole reality. This seemingly small town was really much bigger than anyone could ever imagine. 

Social hierarchy and social standings were the causes of groupthink in Maycomb, but they were also the cause for profuse pain that the outliers of the society dealt with. Atticus, an outlier, taught Scout that it is better to live with the pain of being isolated than to give up her values. Atticus gave Scout and Jem the opportunity to look at the world through his eyes. He gave Scout and Jem the principles of a just ideology. He embodied his morals in a way that showed that they would never sway. He aimed to be a role model that Scout and Jem would want to emulate. It was his “moment of obligation” to show Scout and Jem that the only way worth living is the right way, not the easy way: not the easy way everyone else lives. That is the extent that he could affect his children. It would be up to them how they would internalize Atticus’s virtuous way of living. Atticus could not force his children to be like him, but he did his best to show them the morally right way to live. That is the most invaluable gift that anyone can receive. Scout and Jem were given the gift to grow up into good and considerate people.

The Tom Robinson case was the case for a Black man wrongfully persecuted on the charge of rape. It was Atticus’s “moment of obligation,” to show Scout, Jem, and all of Maycomb, his moral values. Atticus could not ask for his children’s respect if he did not do the right thing and defend this falsely accused man; he could not be a deserving role model if he allowed his virtues to sway. This case caused both Atticus and his children lots of pain. Almost no one in the community thought that Atticus helping Tom Robinson was admirable. In fact, they thought it was disgraceful; they pitied Scout and Jem, who had to grow up with such a “misguided” father. Even with these social pressures around him, Atticus remained honorable. He did not let go of his moral values, and Scout and Jem remained loyal. 

Like Sisyphis pushing the rock up the hill, Atticus was fighting a losing battle when he defended Tom Robinson. His righteous acts would be unable to change the prejudicial and racist ways that everyone in Maycomb had always grown up with: it is really hard to change a culture, much less a human nature. It would only be able to shed light on these injustices. A blinding flash of light that may only last an instant before everything was reverted back to the way life always was: the way people had always lived, and therefore, the easier way of life. That is why I believe Atticus gave Maycomb a most invaluable gift. 

Every person in Maycomb was the product of their environment. There were people like the Cunninghams and the Ewells who turned to racism as consolation for feeling undervalued in their white society. There were people like Miss Stephanie Crawford, and the other “propper” ladies who went to meetings where they talked about inconsiderate and racist things. These were the footsoldiers who continuously perpetuated Maycomb's “diseased” culture. There were also people like Atticus, Miss Maudie, Boo Radly, the Black people, Scout, and Jem who were also the products of the environment. They were separated from the “footsoldiers” by their strong will. They were able to draw different impactful realizations that the rest of the community was blind to. Boo Radly became secluded; he could not live in the Maycomb society after realizing its backwardness. Miss Maudie went to meetings that the proper ladies attended, but she was still able to see their faults. The Black people were obviously able to see the evil that the society festered because they were the main victims. They were the victoms of dehumanization, cruel disrespect, injustice, and lynchings. 

All of these people, who have strong characters, were able to draw from their environment how they wanted to live; they wanted to live a more meaningful and just life than those around them. Maybe some people are just born with stronger wills than others. Miss Dubuse, who was addicted to morphine, found a way to get all of this drug out of her system. Scout and Jem came to her house every afternoon to distract her from her misery of withdrawal. They read to her every evening for months, and she was strong enough to suffer this pain as her last act. It was her last act and it finally gave her peace. She showed the will it would take to rid Maycomb of its toxic culture.

Groupthink still affects societies now. Whether it be affecting kids or adults; in every age there are stereotypes that many are pressured to fit. There are outliers like Atticus, too. Imagine a world in which group think did not affect the way people live their lives. I can not envision such a place. I can not envision a society that ever really changes. Racism, stereotypes, and group think have plagued the world for centuries. I think that Harper Lee saw this, too. She wrote To Kill a Mockingbird about the 1930s, when racism and prejudice were so deeply integrated into US culture, during the 1960s, when the US was still plagued with this disease. 

In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, Maycomb was the same as it was by the end. In the middle, an opportunity to change the town’s culture was presented; this was the case of Tom Robinson. Atticus was the only one who took the opportunity, knowing that his attempts were in vain, but taking a step in the right direction anyway. The jury still convicted Tom Robinson when it was obvious that he was innocent. Any time someone decided to try to make change, everyone around them would end up dragging them back to the same situation that it was before.  By the end, the  people of Maycomb succumbed to “Maycomb’s usual disease;” they reverted back to their unjust ideology, their corrupt democracy, to their human nature. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird to draw attention to the injustices of the world and how powerful groupthink can be. She wrote it to shed light on human nature. Like Atticus, she took the first step. She hoped to inspire people to open their eyes and recognize some of the most unjust human codes and their cruel outlook upon the world, and then do something about it. Harper Lee, like Atticus, gave the world the opportunity to reflect, and in this way, she gave the world a most invaluable gift.

            “All seems infected that the infected spy, as all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.”