To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

finished to kill a mockingbird last night. wow. i ♥ Atticus! he's the epitome of a perfect father. Jean Louise Finch is also a cute little girl and a smart one at that. she's inquisitive and smart that you'll find her irresistible. she has a mentality that's mature for her age and her tomboyishness is also funny because she refuses to act like a lady just like what her Aunt Alexandra wants her to become.

she reminds me of myself, in a way. i was as tomboy as she was while i was growing up. i'd stay out in the sun all day playing until the sun finally set. i climbed trees, scraped my knees, and splashed my feet in puddles of mud while it rained. my mother would scold me each time i soiled my clothes. at the start of the day i'd smell fresh of baby cologne but by dinnertime or merienda, i'd already smell of sweat and baby powder combined. at school, i'd always get into accidents-- knee injuries, broken bones, and other scratches on my skin because i always played with boys. i fought with them a mighty lot too. i was hard-headed that way but i don't regret a single thing because i had fun being a child. well, just one regret: my one-inch horizontal scar on my right elbow which once had 7 stitches to close the cut. i was a princess for one week-- they had to feed me and i was pulled out of school for the whole week because i couldn't write.

like Jean Louise, i was also close to my older sibling (only... she's a girl). i followed my sister like i was her tail and i practically worshipped the ground she walked on. we were playmates but by the time she was almost in her puberty stage, she started to become grouchy. she no longer wanted to play with me and stayed mostly indoors instead. i'd get angry at her too if she'd lecture on me whenever i did something as silly as capture a very green grasshopper and slip it into a jar.

for my fondness for Jean Louise Finch, i've decided to name my first daughter "Jean Louise" hoping that she'd be as smart, adorable, and playful as she is.

lastly, Atticus Finch and Jean Louise's father-daughter relationship reminded me of my own relationship with my father.

To Kill a Mockingbird captured my childhood. i had never-ending questions on the little things and my father tried his very best to explain things that i could not understand.

the best part of the book are the lessons on justice as the book centered on the injustices of the white over the black Americans.

through children's eyes, they saw the unfair treatment of people on the African Americans and questioned while the world was unfair-- why justice wasn't granted to those who were oppressed. through a child's mind that isn't contaminated yet with harsh elements that contaminates people's thoughts... an adult would come to realize their wrongdoings if only they listened more to children.

i personally think that children should be put into government positions and in the justice system as well to abolish the rotting system of governance in the country. what a peaceful world it would be!

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i'm at my grandparents' house. i brought the laptop with me just so i could get things done like the nstp reviewer. the only problem is that i forgot the address of the yahoo group which i am still not a member of. *groans*.

i'll be staying here for the night until tomorrow when i have to go back home so i could meet with apple and van. we're going to finalize the scrapbook so we could have it bound already. too many things to do in so little time. i realized earlier while staring at the SOCSCI120 readers that i have too many papers to review and i haven't even started yet.

three more exams to go. i envy the lot of you who are on your summer vacation as i type this. argh. the world is unfair. sigh