Walk Two Moons to Kill a Mocking Bird
Did you know that it is a sin to kill a mocking bird? Did you know not to judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins? Well neither did Salamanca ‘Sal’ Hiddle or Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch at the beginning of their stories. These two girls are very similar despite living in very different time periods. They’re curious, brave, caring, and both of them have lost their mothers. Sal and Scout probably would have gotten along very well, had their paths ever crossed.
To truly understand someone and their actions you have to know what they see, you have to take a step out of your own life and into theirs or “walk two moons in their moccasins”. This is a lesson that both Salamanca and Scout learn during the course of their stories. Salamanca learns that she was wrong about Mrs. Cadaver, the only survivor of the accident that Sal’s mother died in and the last person to ever talk to her. Scout learns that Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley was not someone to fear but instead was someone who cared for Jem and herself and watched out for them their whole lives.
To Kill a Mockingbird Page 278
Daylight . . . in my mind, the night faded. It was daytime and the neighborhood was busy. Miss Stephanie Crawford crossed the street to tell the latest to Miss Rachel. Miss Maudie bent over her azaleas. It was summertime, and two children scampered down the sidewalk toward a man approaching in the distance. The man waved, and the children raced each other to him.
It was still summertime, and the children came closer. A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention.
It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose’s. The boy helped his sister to her feet, and they made their way home. Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day’s woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive.
Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog.
Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him.
Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.
While both lessons were difficult to learn and understand, they gave the girls a little bit of peace and they helped Sal and Scout grow up a little. Something that didn’t help with that so much is the girls’ crazy imaginations.
Both Salamanca and Scout have great imaginations. The things they came up with helped them create stories and jump to conclusions about people around them. To Scout Boo Radley was a crazy man who stabs his mother with scissors and is kept locked inside his home. To Salamanca Mrs. Cadaver is a murderer who killed her husband and buried him in her backyard. Eventually the two girls see that they were wrong to think these things about people before knowing much about them. Salamanca and Scout used their imaginations and their curiosity to create incredible stories about other people.
One of the bigger similarities between Salamanca and Scout is that they are both story tellers. Within the first ten pages of Walk Two Moons Salamanca is asked to tell a story and so she begins to tell the story of her friend Phoebe. Scout starts out her own tale by telling the story of her family and Maycomb. The most important story that either of them tells, though, is their own. They tell the story of how they grew up. That is a lot of what makes them so similar.
Throughout their stories Salamanca and Scout show that they are caring, curious, and imaginative girls. They tell the stories of themselves and the people around them as if they were right there in that time and they reflect on what they’ve learned from those experiences. Salamanca and Scout both grew up a little when they learned that killing a mockingbird is a sin and not to judge someone until you’ve walked two moons in their moccasins.
