1) Self - Childhood and Growing Up
Both children, Jem and Scout grow to a certain extent as they come to know of issues in the Maycomb society, and are also influenced by their neighbours and peers in school. Jem, initially curious about Boo Radley, who spent countless hours thinking of ways to communicate with him, eventually learned to see things in the perspective of a grown up. For example, when the mob asked Atticus to move away from the jail door, so that they can attack Tom Robinson and Jem, Scout and Dill were at the scene, only Jem understood the situation initially. He saw how tense teh situation was and even stood up for his father to protect him from these men. Although this behaviour is childlike, Jem's behavious has grown from that of childish. Scout, on the other hand, learned about the mockingbirds in the society and how to treat them appropriately. This theme of Scout growing up is evident till the last chapter in the story where she and Atticus talked about Boo Radley.
In our childhood, memories made with friends and families are most meaningful when we look back at them when we grow old. The experiences we gather and skills we pick up comes in handy in the future when we want to fall back on experience to learn new skills, or to perform a task. Growing up, though a painful process, is one that everyone has to go through. Whether or not we make good use of it very much depends on ourselves; we explore our talents, passions and dreams when we are young. In addition, childhood is the most adequate, and possibly the only period in our lives for our imaginations to wander (like how the children in the novel acted out stories and believed in superstitions), without paying the price of doing so. Today, in our pragmatic society of ours, we are often bound by the limitations of our family and career responsibilities that we have little time to do so. We then learn to cherish the memories we once has as a child.
2) Family - Nurturing (Education), Society - Education
For this theme, it is regarding Miss Caroline and her strict view that only teachers, and not parents, know how to teach, referring to Scout and her father. At home, Atticus nurtures Scout by reading to her excerpt from different forms of texts every night. Over time, Scout becomes more advanced in writing and reading as compared to her peers in the school due to the nurturing by her father.
In Singapore, we often see parents sending their children for tuition and remedial classes with the hope that these classes would help them further their children's academic grades. Whether or not these tuition classes are a blessing or a curse, remains very much open to debate. However, there is one fact that most parents cannot deny, that is nurturing plays a huge part in the development of our child's character and personality. Parents, friends, teachers, neighbours, peers, siblings, and strangers or play a part in educating us. The only difficult choice is in who we should learn from. In school, it is impossible for teachers to teach us every single skill and information required to survive in the world. Teachers teach us academic studies; friends teach us how to interact with others and how to control our emotions and feelings; parents focus on our character building and instill in us the right moral values so that we will not go astray. The responsibility of education no longer falls solely on the teachers. Everyone has a part to play in ensuring that a good education system is maintained in our society.
3) Racial discrimination and prejudice - Society
Possibly the most significant and evident theme in the novel is racial discrimination against Negroes by the "white folks". Despite the fact that these prejudices are deeply rooted within the Maycomb society, there are still some certain individuals who stand against these prejudices. One example is Atticus. He stays firm in his stand that racial prejudice and discrimination is wrong. He advocates and educates Jem and Scout to distinguish what is right and what is wrong, not based on skin colour, nor influenced my emotions like anger and hatred. Atticus was called a "nigger-lover" by many residents of Maycomb because he defended Tom Robinson, who was a Negro. His children were also taunted, insulted, injured and bullied both physically and verbally by different residents of Maycomb. However, at the end of the day, Atticus is still a staunch believer that racial discrimination and prejudice is wrong.
What we can do to prevent racial discrimination and prejudice in our society today is to actively participate in activities organised by schools and Residents' Committees (RCs). The first step to counter racial prejudice is to know the other races. Events organised in schools like the annual Racial Harmony Day celebrations encourages students to have a better knowledge of the other races. After knowing comes understanding, which means experiencing the knowledge. For instance, the local exchange programmes held in our schools organise activities across different racial groups so that students can undergo a first-hand experience at engaging in racial and cultural activities like Batik drawing, or Chinese calligraphy. We can bring understanding to a higher level by applying this knowledge and experiences. For example, I have participated in an Indian festival organised by my local RC. The activities they organise allows us to interact and communicate with people from other races directly though verbal any physical expressions. I believe that it is only through such activities that students are really able to forget about racial prejudices. We are fortunate that the society we live in today is much less racial segregated and discriminated as compared to other countries in the past, like Maycomb.
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