dhur – dis/lit 20

To Kill a Mockingbird: The Frailty of Disability

To Kill a Mockingbird contains a lot of themes regarding the issue of discrimination in regards to disability. In an attempt to demonstrate the struggle that many disabled people go through, Lee’s narrative focuses on a disabled African American man struggling to find his way through a trial of a crime he didn’t commit. This has especially been apparent by the fact that he was both African American and disabled. To Kill a Mockingbird centers on themes of the present discrimination within disability as seen in Tom’s discrimination, Boo Radley’s struggle to unveil himself, and the treatment Atticus receives for supporting Tom.

For the bulk of the book, Tom ultimately is the one that receives the most amount of discrimination for being African American. This is shown most clearly through the trial that he is forced to be a part of. Throughout the trial, Tom finds that he is treated unfairly, most of the evidence being against him. In one of the arguments that is made against him, “Tom Robinson hesitated , searching for an answer, ‘Looked like she didn’t have anybody to help her, I says’” (Lee 204). In this scene, the pressure that Tom feels shows how much of the court is biased against him. This is further exemplified through some of the names that the judge calls him, such as “But you weren’t in a fix—you testified you were resisting miss Ewell. Were you so scared that she’d hurt you, a big buck like you?” (Lee 225). The derogatory term of “big buck” demonstrates how Tom was judged by his appearance. Tom’s race and disability prevented him from getting fair treatment. Ultimately it is sad that these were the defining traits that the judge saw, preventing him from becoming more acquainted with Tom. It shows the extra weight that race holds with disability.

Another aspect that Harper Lee tries to put a lot of emphasis on is the isolation disabled people go through. This exhibits itself through the life of Boo Radley. In the beginning of the book, Scout described “the Radley’s kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb” (Lee 14). Considering that isolation was an unforgivable predilection, it shows how Boo Radley was discriminated based on a mental illness that he had. Lee uses Boo to show the struggles he had with his disability interfered with his communication with the people in the society. After some time, Boo comes out and Scout come to have a more mutual understanding towards him, especially after he took care of Jem. With this, Scout says “The Radley’s place had ceased to terrify me, but it was no less gloomy” (Lee 247). This goes to show that she has overcome her initial fears and speculations she had of Boo Radley. Ultimately she came to have a more mutual understanding for Boo because she came to know him as a person. Unfortunately, based on the fact she still saw gloom on the house, the rest of society probably would never come to accept Boo Radley for who he really was. No matter how hard he tried, he would always be alienated for his disability by the greater society. This shows that the disability he had will always leave a mark on his social standing. The development of Scout’s understanding towards Boo Radley demonstrates how misunderstood many people with disabilities are.

Finally, Lee tries to expose how the insults of one individual can affect the welfare of the other. Through the character of Atticus Finch, it is seen that he is insulted because he does not believe that Tom did any wrong. When he is talking to Jem and Scout about how he was insulted by two other men for his defense of Tom, he states “‘There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair if they tried’” (Lee 238). In this sense, he is saying that people exist within their own independent selves, unable to understand anything that is outside of it. This applies to Lee’s theme of the stigmatization of disability because the reason most of the disabled characters are misunderstood has to do with the fact that people do not want to comprehend an individual that is different. The reason people like Tom received an unfair trial without good evidence had to do with how they refused to understand his status as a disabled and African American person. Because Atticus was the only person that was willing to understand Tom, he too becomes stigmatized since they view that he is sympathizing with someone that is otherwise considered a disgrace to their society. Atticus goes further with this when he states “ ‘There is nothing more sickening than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a negro’s ignorance’” (Lee 252). In this statement, Atticus is saying that a lot of white people seem to assume that African Americans are not that smart and easy to take advantage of. However, because Atticus is the only one that is able to understand that this is just a presumption, he gets made fun of for it because he has grown to see the holes within the white individual’s thinking. In this case, popular thinking tends to blind people because it is not based upon reasonable facts or logic. Instead, a lot of it is based on myth and unreliable data. The reason that Tom Robinson is accused of rape in the first place has a lot to do with the nature of his social standing over anything that he has done in the past. In the same vein, because Atticus is able to overcome these falsehoods, he is able to see the truth; however, it is not without the cost of losing the respect others once had of him.

To conclude, To Kill a Mockingbird carries many of the same weight that other literary works involving disability do. Many of the characters within the book find themselves becoming ostracized and being social outcasts because they do not have the means necessary to recover form the plight they are in. Most of the social woes that the characters of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson suffer from is because of their disability. All in all, To Kill a Mockingbird is very insightful with how it handles the frailties of disability.

Work Cited

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Harperprennial. New York, New York. Modern Classics,

2002. Print.

Words: 1071

I pledge-

Daniel

Project Write-up

Daniel Hur

Dr. Foss

ENGL 384

24 April 2020

For the process of my story, it took some time for me to come up with an idea for a story. Part of the reason that I came up with the hockey story had a lot to do with the fact that I knew someone that I grew up with that also had a head trauma similar to that. Because of the head-trauma he received while he was playing football, he had trouble with aspects of his life such as focus and concentration. Thinking of him, that was how I came up with the character of Penelo, in which the sports that she took part of caused her to have a serious head trauma. I also tried to have Penelo struggle with other disabilities like PTSD. Usually most people seem to think of PTSD as an ailment that affects people like war soldiers; however, the truth of the matter is that people with PTSD can live very ordinary lives. Sometimes it can be an every day aspect that causes a person to suffer from PTSD. Ultimately this is how I came up with the inspiration of Penelo and the problems that she suffered from.

Some of the issues with depression that Penelo struggled with also applied to me. Growing up, I was also taken to a lot of therapists for social anxiety. This allowed me to find closure for some of the problems that I had. One of the ways that the therapists helped me was through the usage of medication. My parents had a lot of mixed feelings when it came to medication, which is how I came up with the inspiration for the fact that Penelo’s parents had some problems with it. I wanted to make both Penelo and Dr. Brushae be really close because I wanted the tragedy that occurred towards the end to have a great weight. It was like Dr. Brushae’s presence was no longer needed in the healing process for Penelo.

After drawing from all of these experiences, I started to make a draft of the story. In the story, I found that the memories that I had of being tested for depression naturally started to manifest itself across the pages of the first draft. Of course, I felt like the story needed a lot of polishing, so I wrote another draft. In the second draft I tried to clear up some of the character interactions, and I did my best to make each of the characters sound like they are talking like human beings. This is how I managed to come up with all the human characters because most of them are based off of people from my own experiences.

All in all, that is how I came up with the story for Penelo. I managed to find that it was not difficult pulling from my own experiences and incorporating it into a narrative style. However, actually polishing the draft was the main struggle that I had. Through the character of Penelo, I was able to write about some of my experiences.

Words: 500

Daniel’s MPP: Penelo’s Struggle with Depression

Daniel Hur

Dr. Foss

ENGL 384

19 April 2020

“Penelo! Penelo!” cried Mrs. Brennan; I tried focusing on the problem on the board. However, no matter how hard I tried, my brain would wander. “Penelo!” cried Mrs. Brennan even louder. Her shouts felt like noise in my ear. My entire brain felt like it was about to burst. A couple of my classmates tried to stifle back some laughs. I looked at the ever-so-furious face of Mrs. Fredericks. Her face was burning with so much anger and animosity.

“Penelo! Could you please solve the division problem on the board,” Mrs. Brennan tried to say in a calm and soothing voice. I shook with fear. Division. I think I knew what kind of necessary equations were necessary in order to solve the problem. Division. It seemed so familiar.

My breath shortened. A couple of my classmates started to laugh and I didn’t know what was going on.

“Penelo, I’d like a word with you before you leave for class today,” she said. I hung my head in utter disappointment. The bell rung. The rest of the kids started to exit out of the building except for me. Mrs. Brennan looked disapprovingly of me. “Penelo, I know that you can do so much better than how you are doing right now.”

“I know,” I said.

“I know the concussion was really bad for you, but you just can’t keep going like this. Something needs to change, and I think it is about time that you went to see the school therapist.” I raised my head a little.

“A therapist.”

“Yes, now here is the card. It’s about time that you got some help for one.”

***

As I was making my way to the bus, I couldn’t help but look down at the card my teacher had given me.

“Mrs. Leslie Brushae. Phone#: 571-218-9898. Room 218.”

“Hey, Penelo! You did pretty good back there at Math class.” I turned to see Rachel pointing at me with a group of other girls. At one point during the hockey season, they had all been my fellow teammates. Now they were making fun of me.

“Hey! Penelo, I thought at one point you were probably the smartest girl in the class! What happened?” another student mocked. I closed my eyes as I started to board the bus.

“Yeah, good luck trying to live the rest of your life as a hobbo!” another student said. I covered my ears. It was true. I used to be so good at Math, but ever since the concussion, it all changed. Everything about me changed, and now I had no choice but to live with this new reality. If only I hadn’t slid into the goal to catch the puck. I shut my eyes even harder as the memories started to resurface. Me helplessly on the ground, barely conscious while several of my teammates asked if I was ok.

***

“I’m home!” I cried out in the loudest voice possible. As soon as I saw my parents come running forward, I smiled.

“Hello, honey, how have you been doing? How was school?” my mother asked. My smile started to disappear.

“Well, uhhh…I got kind of stuck on a math problem,” I began. Seeing no other way out of this, I gave the card that my teacher had given me.

“What’s this? A psychologist?” my mother asked as she and my father started looking on. I shifted from one foot to the next.

“Honey, has school really been going ok?” my dad asked. I breathed a huge sigh as if I had just gotten a large weight off my chest.

***

“Well, honey, I don’t think she can just live like that forever,” my mother said. “She needs professional help.”

“Yes, but do you think all this is really necessary?” asked my father. “I mean, all I’ve ever wanted her to be was just a normal girl.”

A normal girl. For some reason that felt like it was farther away than ever. I crawled into my room and started staring at the wall. Get up, the inner voice inside of me started to say. I stirred inside my bed, wanting nothing more than to make myself go to sleep.

It was just a little hit on the head, I thought to myself. Just a small hit and that was all that it needed for me to be in a ruined state. On the left side of my room were my hockey shoes that I had used to skate around on the ice. Walking over to the side of the room, I picked it up, my hand trembling.

***

As I walked into the room, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was making a mistake as I went through those doors. What was going to happen to me? Stop worrying, I told myself. I took a deep breath as I walked into the room.

“Hello there!” I looked up to see a fairly middle-aged woman sitting in front of a desk and typing on a computer. “My name is Dr. Brushae!”

“Hi, I’m Penelo,” I said. The woman started to leave the computer. She had her hair tied back in a bun. Thought her skin looked old and frail—as if she was a woman that was starting to peek at her age—there was a hint of joy inside of her that seemed to counteract against her age. “Mrs. Brennan has told me all about you.” I stood in her office door, almost as if I was afraid to go up to her. “It’s ok, now tell me. Tell me whatever is going on within your mind. How are you?” My entire head was spinning, but I wasn’t just going to break down in tears in front of her.

“I’m good,” I said.

“Is that true?” she asked. I noticed she was jotting down notes inside of her notebook.

“Yes,” I replied. She leaned forward. Her eyes focused very hard into mine.

“Penelo, you can tell me anything you want. Mrs. Brennan may have told me some things about you, but I assure you that I don’t believe in any of them.” My body stopped tensing and I began to relax.

“It’s just ever since I got the concussion, I just felt like my entire life just went to shambles,” I said. She looked at me and nodded her head. Her face looked like it was filled with compassion.

“I’m sure it was really hard for you; the fact that you couldn’t quite play anymore,” she said. I nodded my head. My breathing began to slow.

“I can tell that you suffer from a lot of anxiety,” the doctor said. We talked for hours. Finally, she took out an object from her pocket. “I’m thinking about prescribing you on Serotonin medicine. They are anti-depressants that might help you, but I also wanted to give you this.” She handed me the object that she took out. It was shaped like a bell that hung from a cut ribbon. “This is my lucky charm, and I am lending it to you. I usually like to give my patients trinkets that I used to have when I was a child. I am lending this to you.” As soon as it fell in the palm of my hands, I could feel the weight of the charm, which calmed me.

“Thank you,” I said.

***

“So how was your meeting with the school therapist?” asked my mother.

“It was good,” I said. “She gave me this.” I put down the bell in front of my mom.

“Well, that’s kind of…cute,” she said.

“Oh, yeah, and she also gave me some serotonin as medicine for my mental illness.”

“Sero-tonin,” my mom stammered as she struggled to put the word together.

“Yeah, it’s medicine to help with my mental illness.”

***

“So, how has the Serotonin been helping you?” asked the doctor.

“It’s been going really well,” I said. “And thank you for being willing to hand over your lucky charm over to me.” The doctor smiled.

“Well, I’m glad that you have been able to find yourself,” the doctor said. “So could you please try and reiterate the accident that you had on the ice.” I thought back.

“I was skating as the goal keeper for my team. I paid very close attention to the puck,” I began. My voice began to quiver. The doctor took notes. “As I was trying to keep track of the puck, I lost my footing. Before I knew it, the puck was zooming towards the goal and I was on the ground.” My voice continued to quiver.

“No need to be sad,” she said.

“I know, I know, but for some reason no matter how hard I try I find it really hard for me to keep it together whenever I talk about this. I let the team down, and it was all for nothing.” I could still see Rachel’s face glaring at me with anger.

“Oh, Penelo,” my doctor said.

***

“So, Penelo, can you solve this division problem?” my teacher asked. I clutched the lucky charm. Make sure to clutch the charm when you are nervous, I recalled the doctor telling me.

“24,” I said. Ms. Brennan looked shocked.

“Yes, that is the correct answer. Very good,” she said. The rest of the class was silent. I felt proud of what I had managed to accomplish, happy with the fact that I had solved the problem.

***

As I returned home from school, I couldn’t help but feel prouder of today.

“Mom, Dad, I’m home!” I cried. My parents came running in. I embraced them with a hug.

“Honey! So nice to see that you are a bit happier,” Mom said, thought underneath the happiness I could sense there was a bit of uncertainty.

“Yes, I agree!” said Dad. “It certainly helped you a lot when you had started to see the school psychologist.” Despite the fact that I was feeling overjoyed by the fact that I was being embraced with love by my parents, I couldn’t help but feel like they sensed something was wrong with me.

***

“Honey, I’m not sure if this is ok for her. Some of the things that I hear about the school doctor sound a little bit suspicious and up in the air to me,” my mom said.

“I think you’re worrying too much. She seems to have some major improvements ever since she first started meeting the doctor,” my dad replied.

“I don’t know. I hear there is a board of parents that will be coming forward to complain about some of her methods.” I froze in fear, but I realized there was nothing I could do.

***

Dr. Bruchae sat very quietly at the desk—the only difference being that now she no longer had another student that she was trying to talk to. Now she had several parents that had come to complain of her.

“Dr. Brushae, we understand that you have done your very best in terms of trying to take care of the students at the school, but may us parents interject with some complaints that we have of you,” said another man.

“My son came home one day and brought a little trinket with him that is called a lucky charm,” said one mom. “I couldn’t help but feel that you were forcing some kind of spirituality on him.”

“No, that wasn’t the case at all,” Dr. Brushae said. “All that I really wanted was to send him some kind of encouragement. Something that will get him up more.”

“Another thing, Dr. Brushae,” said another parent almost as if he hadn’t heard what she had just said. “You seem to have a lot of heavy reliance on medication as a method to cure your patients. Don’t you think that it is a little far-fetched to keep feeding your students meds? I mean, what about the side-effects?”

“I have that all under control,” she began. Then she made contact with Penelo’s parents. Her speech stopped dead in its tracks.

***

“And now I have just shown you how to solve these problems,” I said as soon as she finished doing the equations on the board. Ms. Brenna clapped her hands in excitement.

“That’s excellent Penelo!” cried Ms. Brenna. I walked back to my desk.

“Excuse me, but Dr. Brushae wants to have a word with Penelo.” I walked out of the hallways to see Dr. Brushae. She had a smile on her face.

“Congratulations!” she said when I told her about the math problems; however, soon she started to tremble. Her voice began quivering as if she was crying.

“What’s wrong?”

“Penelo, I just wanted to tell you that I am so proud of what you managed to accomplish,” she said. “But I wanted to let you know that I will be leaving this school in hopes of finding something that is more suitable to me.”

“What?”

“There were so many complaints,” she said, wiping away some tears. “I might have to either transfer somewhere else or re-evaluate my style of counseling.” I stood there in shock. “Just remember to stay strong and keep the lucky charm…”

***

As I rode home that day, my entire head felt like it was spinning. It seemed like so many things just happened all at once. For some reason, I almost felt like Dr. Brushae had betrayed me, and yet, I couldn’t figure out a legitimate reason to get angry about it.

I took out the lucky charm that Dr. Brushae had given me long ago. The ribbon that was attached to the top of the bell had been lost. Now all that was left was a plain golden bell.

I clutched the bell inside my pocket, thanking Dr. Brushae for everything that she had done for me.

“Hey, Penelo!” I turned around to see Rachel trying to talk to me. “Do you wanna sit with me?” she asked. Initially I looked really apprehensive, but eventually I ran over and sat with her.

“It feels like awhile since the last time I talked to you,” she said.

It’s been awhile since the last time I’d talked to you, I thought back.

Word count: 2250

“I pledge that I had no unauthorized help on this assignment.”

-Daniel

Daniel’s Response to To Kill A Mockingbird

“-I pledge.”

Harper Lee surrounds many of the events within To Kill A Mockingbird around the theme of stigmatization. Throughout the novel, Lee expresses a lot of disdain to the corruption and injustice that many of the African Americans go through; however, in a more subtle fashion, she also tries to address the hardship that the disabled and impaired endure. She depicts this in the character of Boo Radley. Throughout the novel, Scout and Jem constantly wonder about the identity of Boo Radley and why it is that he never comes out. By the end of the novel, both Jem and especially Scout comes to gain a more mutual understanding of their neighbor. Boo Radley ultimately represents a disabled minority in To Kill a Mockingbird as seen in Scout’s changing perception of him and his mannerisms when approaching Jem’s unconscious body.

Harper Lee demonstrates to her audience how disabled people are misunderstood using the character of Boo Radley’s relationship to Scout. Initially Scout expressed a lot of suspicion towards Boo Radley, wondering why it was that he would not leave his house. However, after she finally gets the chance to meet him when he saves her brother’s life, she contemplates how “Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch, and our lives” (Lee 320). Scout realizes how much she has misunderstood Boo Radley. While initially she saw him with an air of mystery, she realizes that he was a person just like anybody else. This shows how people with disabilities tend to be misunderstood because all that most people see is the disability instead of the person themselves. Scout contemplates this when she reflects on what Atticus had told her: “One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee 371). Scout applies this to her changing perception of Boo Radley when she learns that Boo is not as strange as he may seem after saving Jem.

Boo Radley’s experience around Jem’s body also exemplifies that he may suffer from a disability, which is why he kept himself enclosed within his own house. When Boo was trying to touch Jem, Lee describes “Boo’s hand hovered over Jem’s hair” (Lee 319). From the word choice of “hovered,” Boo was clearly nervous about touching Jem. This and the fact he refused to leave his house may translate to Boo having some kind of anxiety disorder. Scout even comforts Arthur that it is ok to pet her brother, saying “ ‘You can pet him, Mr. Arthur, he’s asleep…You couldn’t if he was awake’” (Lee 319). The fact that he needed some kind of reassurance shows that Arthur may have a condition that is related to fear or Agoraphobia. In this, Harper Lee is using Arthur Radley to make a statement about mental illness.

All in all, while she does make a lot of commentary on the negative condition of racism, Harper Lee also tries to touch on mental illness through the character of Arthur Radley. Even though Arthur does not play a very prominent role throughout the story, the way that Harper Lee utilizes him shows that she is trying to tell a story about the stigmatization behind mental illness as well. Through the character of Arthur Radley, Harper Lee was able to demonstrate how the misunderstanding of disability is pervasive throughout society.