Essay #7

  A Variety of Cages:

To Kill a Mockingbird’s Chapter 15 and Myself           
An Essay by Mia P

   January 10, 2012

A bird in a cage usually does not catch my attention. I never took into perspective how the bird must feel to be trapped inside, and not able to be released unless someone from the outside helps. You could relate the bird to how a human may feel, such as Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mockingbird. The main character, Scout, felt the same way as a trapped bird in a part of a chapter that I recently read.

(TS) People and animals both have feelings. (SD)  In chapter 15 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout felt the same way as an animal, a bird to be precise. (CM) Late at night, Scout, Jem and Dill snuck out of their house to find Atticus who was at the Maycomb jail, and Scout ran smiling and glowing through the group of men to get to her father. (CM) She was trapped, because she couldn’t return to where she was before, outside of the towering men unfamiliar to her, and time definitely wouldn’t go back to have her stay in the better previous situation. (CM) Scout said “I pushed myself through dark smelly bodies and burst into the circle of light,” and goes on to say “There was a smell of stale whiskey and pigpen about, and when I glanced around I discovered that these men were strangers. These were not the people I saw last night.” (SD) Also, Tom Robinson, a Negro man who was defended in court by Atticus, felt enclosed as well. (CM) Tom Robinson was taken to the jail until his trial to be held the next day, and therefore he could not leave. (CM) Sadly, Tom Robinson cannot do anything about his missfortunate position that he was in. (CM) I also feel a bit enclosed sometimes, when everyone tells me what to do. (CS) My parents may tell me I’m wrong, and other people will tell me I did what was right, and that is all it takes sometimes to make me feel confused, and slightly imprisoned like a bird in a cage.

        As I look outside the window, I saw young children dancing around the side walk and going about their business freely. I wonder if one day they will know that not everyone can do the same. Sometimes those people are ignored or not heard just like the bird in the cage that tries to get your attention. This was a comparison that I had never thought of before until today.