Nathan Arana

Pre-AP English 9A/ period 2

Mr. Boyatt

7 May 2020

Reflection: I thought the writing process was pretty easy for the most part, and I like how

you did it step by step. So remotely writing the essay was pretty easy for me even though I got

distracted sometimes. The most difficult part of the process was honestly actually putting the

effort to write it instead of sleeping. I think AP Lang will be too hard for me because I still need

to get more skills so that I can write my essays easier and better. I think before the correction it

was a 3 but now it is better thanks to one review in particular that really helped and helped show

me where my mistakes are. So I think my essay overall now lands around a 4 hopefully from the

six point scale. But, I really appreciate the peer review that I got and writing the essay at home

was pretty easy for me.

To Kill a Mockingbird​ synthesis essay

The controversial book ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ that is banned in many schools

should still be taught in high school to freshman. This book has been a topic of discussion

for school districts in America for years on whether or not they should retire the book and

have children learn about new books with similar themes. However this book still should

be taught to highschoolers because of the popularity of the book, lessons learned from the

book and, they are more aware about how their peers feel and could have productive

discussions.
 To begin, ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ should be taught to highschoolers because the

book is a very popular book around America even with all the language. This is a fact

made by many articles, like for instance,“ ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ was voted by viewers as

America’s #1 best-loved novel in the great American Read.”(source D). This goes to

prove that ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ is still a popular book even with its age, because like

many pieces of literature the older it gets the more widely known and spread it becomes.

Also, since it is so popular in America why try to find a new popular book if ​To Kill A

Mockingbird​ is already such a popular book. In another article the book was ranked in

order by checkouts and got, “ 5. ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ by Harper Lee: 422,912

checkouts.”(source F). This shows that within a year ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ was

approximately read around 422,912 times which is a large number of people. This is why

it should be taught to highschoolers because it helps show how. This goes to show the

statistics of how popular ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ is and how it is still being read.

To continue, ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ should be taught in school because of the

lessons taught in the book directly or indirectly. The main lesson that the book tries to

convey is that, “ you never understand a person until you consider things from their point

of view.”( source B). This is an important lesson for people to be taught at any age,

because even if they were taught the very same lesson at a younger age people will

sometimes forget and might even do the opposite. Also, even with this simple lesson it

can be put into many different ways and is even taught in other books. Repetition helps

keep ideas in a person's mind. Another piece of evidence is that even the language is

important because, “ censorship blinds us. These books are important , because they are
not condoning this word, this racial slur… they’ re showing the ignorance of using that

word and having this bigotry.”( source B). This shows how lessons can be taught

indirectly by a book by how the themes and the language used in the book can both be

seen in the darkest ways or people can see it in the light where the theme shows how

during the great depression. Many people back then are not as they are now. Even with

the language it shows how our nation has changed so rapidly in the last century and how

important to look back to the lessons of the past, and see all the great things that

happened. This goes to show how the lessons taught helps improve us as a society

whether it is directly or indirectly.

Furthermore, what many schools have banned this book for was the sensitivity of

the families of the students who read the book due to a certain word. Which is summed

up by how, “Some of that damage is obvious: the black child who has been verbally

abused by being called a “[N-word)” in the schoolyard could be more hurt hearing that

word taught in the classroom”( source E). This word is a very sensitive topic for some

families who have the background where this word is meant to put them down and make

them feel lesser than. But, stating that a child can be hurt by this word on how it's taught

in class is weird, because in the book Atticus tells his children not to say the word

because how it can hurt others. In another case, “Some people complained that the book’s

language made them uncomfortable.” (source E). In this case the biggest argument

against ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ is indeed the language it uses. However, just because

something is uncomfortable does not mean you should shy away from it, it also doesn’t

mean to embrace it. It is like trying something new, sure at first you might feel
uncomfortable. Because you should at the very least try it before you create your opinion

about the book instead of building an opinion off other people. But, you should not take

away the opportunity from others who may have otherwise enjoyed the book because

they may have already got a premeditated opinion about it before even opening the book.

In conclusion, if ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ is left in schools we will be able to help

show the next generations how to be sensitive to others as well as learn from the mistakes

of the past. Because ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ was based on a period of time in America

where oppression was a very bad problem and hurt many people and so that we could

learn from the mistakes of the past. Furthermore, To Kill a Mockingbird was published in

1960 which was about the middle of the civil rights movement which helped improve the

lives of many people. So ​To Kill a Mockingbird​ both gives us lessons from the book as

well as a lesson from the past where times were darker in which many great people were

able to change.