Courageous Acts to Kill a Mockingbird

When people are referred to as a bully or as a good person, one would usually already have a certain idea of what that person may be or how they may act. Typically, a bully is painted as rude, physically aggressive, or otherwise unpleasant. While someone who is good is shown in a good light and where there is nothing bad to be said about them. This is because the way one acts determines the kind of person they are. This is shown with how the two women treated the young men in the Scottsboro trials, in the book To Kill A Mockingbird and how Bob Ewell was a terrible man, how Jamal acts in the article “What if My Son is a Bully?”, in how four teens commited suicide because of bullying in the article “When Bullying Turns Deadly: Can it Be Stopped?”, in the case of Jamie Nabozny where he was relentlessly tormented for his sexuality, and in several surveys on bullying taken at Northwest High School.

First of all, the way that the two women treated the men in The Scottsboro Trials shows that they were horrible people. These women accused the boys of rape even when there was overwhelming evidence proving this not to be true. On January 5, 1932 a letter from one of the women to her boyfriend states that she lied about the accusations. This is clear evidence supporting the fact that it never happened, yet these two women were horrible enough to lie anyway. These two girls had no excuse for what they did and they had no reason to make these claims. According to CNN, the only reason these women made the claims was because they were approached by the cops and were asked if they were alright. For no reason at all, they lied and it just shows why the were awful. The Scottsboro trial proves that people's actions do define them.

There are many instances in To Kill A Mockingbird that shows how a person’s actions can define who they are as a person. One person that shows how this is true is the character Bob Ewell. An example of this is the trial of Tom Robinson and when Atticus Finch was questioning Bob Ewell's his daughter, Mayella Ewell. He asks, “‘'Who beat you up? Tom Robinson or your father?’ No answer.” As earlier stated, there was no a man with a deformed left arm could cause such injuries to Mayella's head and it is inferred that Bob Ewell beat his own daughter. Another instance is when Bob Ewell attacked Jem and Scout to get revenge on their father Atticus because of his part in defending Tom Robinson.

Even though he won the trial against Tom Robinson, he was still bitter that Atticus would claim that he beat his daughter. Almost anyone can see why Bob Ewell is another perfect example of how the actions of someone define who they are. Furthermore, there are many stories online that show how the actions of people show who they are. The article, “What if My Son Is a Bully?” discusses how the author believes that her son might be a bully because of what he has done. One example of this is when the author states that her son attacks his younger sister mercilessly for her vulnerabilities verbally and physically. This paints the boy in a bad light and it is the reason why his mother questions his personality. In addition, the kid is also shown in a good light multiple times in the article.

After the author ponders whether or not her son is a bully, she claims that her son is a delight to be around. This proves that not only can your actions show you in a bad way, but as well as a good one. Continuing on, another story found online written by John Cloud titled, “When Bullying Turns Deadly: Can it Be Stopped?”, is a phenomenal illustration of how the way you treat others defines you as a person. This article tells about how someone actions not only affects how others see them, but it also tells a story of why they can be so harmful to others as well. Cloud writes that no less than four teenage boys committed suicide due to being bullied.

This shows that a person's actions affects others because of what it drove these young men to do. Additionally, many state laws define what someone has to do in order to be officially labeled as a bully. The article goes on to state, “...for a bully to be a bully, he can't have just been any insensitive kid. He had to want to hurt his classmate.”. These means that in order for you to be a bully you have to want to hurt another person. This is an action and once someone has committed this action they are labeled.

Jamie Nabozny who was bullied as a kid until he was teenager, tells his story which is yet another example of why a person actions show who they are. All throughout Jamie's life he was harassed by people that were clearly bullies. In the documentary about him named, “Bullied The Jamie Nabozny Story”, he says that after he reported the bullying, his principle told him that boys will be boys. These boys physically attacked him and harassed him constantly. This is clear evidence that the children were horrible no matter what the principal said. This absolutely destroyed his childhood. When he was just a teenager he ran away from home not once but twice. The way you treat others not only defines you as a person but can wreck other people's lives as well. His story is sad and shows multiple examples of bullying and the reflection it shows on the those who bullied him.

Finally, in many surveys taken at Northwest High School the data showed how one treated another person showed who the person was. In one survey where it was documenting if a person believed bullying to be a problem, the majority of people agreed. The data shows that almost everyone put down yes as an answer when asked the question. This shows that people believe that they have been impacted in a way to label some people as bullies based upon what they have done. Another survey proved why not only is the bully labeled, but the victim can also be labeled. This survey was asking whether or not the victim reported the bully and surprisingly half of the students said no if they were in fact bullied. This can label the student as someone who can't stand up for themselves or otherwise incapable of doing anything without assistance. Deciding who someone is can go both ways depending on where you are standing, but the sure thing is that it does happen.

To conclude, as we see in the Scottsboro trials with how the women treated the young men horribly, Bob Ewell’s disgusting behavior in To Kill A Mockingbird, in the article, “What if My Son Is a Bully?” where the author questions her son’s capability of being a bully, in the other serious article, “When Bullying Turns Deadly: Can it Be Stopped?” and how people’s actions prompted young boys to take their own lives, in the Jamie Nabozny story where he was bullied all throughout his childhood and teen years, and finally in the bullying surveys taken at Northwest Career and Technical Academy, it can be undeniably determined that one’s actions determine how they are viewed in society. Just how a bully is viewed as bad based upon what they have done and just how a victim can be painted in bad light it is our choices that define us. Some people choose to be horrible to others while some choose not to be. “Actions prove who someone is, words just prove who they want to be” - Anonymous. 

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