TKAM, Blankets, & Oranges

One theme that ties these three texts together is bullying. In TKAM, Scout is bullied by Jem because he's older than her, but the most relevant is when she gets mocked by Francis, due to the fact that Atticus is defending a black man. "I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family" (83). Then in Blankets, Craig is made fun of by his classmates because he looks Ethiopian and his mom is really Christian. "Why are you so skinny? He looks like an Ethiopian! Don't touch him, you might catch a disease!" (20) He is also bullied by his Sunday school teachers in a way because they limit what he believes. Even at church camp, people leave him out and make fun of him because he is poor and can't afford to ski. They also call him a girl, like everyone at school did. In Oranges, Jeanette is bullied by the church. When she admits that she loves Melanie and she loves the Lord, they tell her she cannot love both. They deprive her of food, and won't let her leave her room until she denies her love for Melanie. "We'll come back the day after tomorrow, he confided to my mother. Meantime, don't let her out of this room and don't feed her" (107). All three of these texts connect through bullying, and Scout, Craig, and Jeanette grow from it. Scout learns to deal with her anger. She also learns about the issues with the trial and more importantly not to judge people. Through getting bullied, Craig learns a lot about who he is. Although he does not have it completely figured out in the end, he seems the most content he had ever been. Jeanette learns to deal with loss, and I think the whole situation with Melanie and the church made her a stronger person. She gets more involved in her church community, and deals with it. The greater purposes of these texts are to teach readers the difference between right and wrong, and they illustrate both sides. The situations in each text are very different from each other and I think they "talk" to each other through their conflicts. They show us as a society that even when the going gets tough, everything can work out okay in the end, if you allow it to. Jeanette would not have been as well in the end, if she would not have given into the pastor and her mother. Like this, if Scout would have beaten every kid up that made fun of her, she would have been in a very bad situation with her family, friends, and school. On the otherhand, they are all kind of forced by authority to change their beliefs. Jeanette is told it is wrong to love another woman, and that kind of love is from the demon. Then Craig is told he won't be able to draw in Heaven, only sing, which he hates. Yet, they both seem all right in the end.