Sam Essay #1

Sam Final Essay #1
Sam Godfrey
9/16/09
English 8

The way a person is perceived to live can change the lives of others. The people in the town of Maycomb were terrified of the Radley Family's lifestyle. Just to avoid walking in front of the house they would choose a longer alternative route. Kids even changed their playground at the school, because they were scared . In the town of Maycomb, Alabama, the Radley family is greatly known and feared by everyone. For example, legend has it the house is haunted with a malevolent phantom. At the darkest hours of night, the phantom is believed to peer into windows. Then if people's azaleas froze in the cold it is because the phantom breathed on them. Also, the Maycomb school playground lies next to the Radleys back lawn where a pecan tree would shed pecans on the playground. The pecans that lay on the ground were forbidden to eat. Not one kid would even think to put his hands on one because they thought it would kill them. When the kids play baseball and it flies over the fence into the Radley's yard, that ball is as good as gone, never to be seen again. "The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves,a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb". The Radleys would not attend any church services but instead, rumor has it, they worshiped at home. The only time the Radleys were seen outside their home was when Mr. Radley apparently went out to get groceries at 11:30 every day. Even if all these conclusions drawn are wrong, the Radley's lifestyle is to blame . In my my own neighborhood, in Mystic, Connecticut, there lives a very mysterious, crazy lady that reminds me of the Radleys. Like in the town of Maycomb, everbody knows and fears Ms. Jeanine, especially her neighbors. For starters, her yard is a jungle of plants just scattered. Her house has two dozen randomly placed windows and a door on the second floor that leads to nothing. Also placed in her yard is a mirror facing her neighbors house; she does this to reflect all bad energies coming from their yard. Just for kicks the neighbors put a statue of a crow with red demon eyes in front of the mirror and I got a good laugh out of that. Our street is pretty busy, so when people pass and they are too loud, she gives them a piece of her mind. When I was just about 10 years old a couple of friends and I used to run by her house screaming at the top of our lungs. This did not sit well with Ms. Jeanine. She ended up cursing and putting up a big old fuss. From that day on, all the kids on our street always passed by swiftly and quietly. At night when you pass by her house you can always hear her arguing with someone or mumbling to herself. Nobody knows what the heck she yells and talks about. Then again I dont think I do. At night her house is very dark, and sometimes all you can see is the golden embers of a cigarette and the gagging smell of smoke. Ms. Jeanine is a very weird, crazy, and feared women just like the Radleys. I think the people of Maycomb should not assume the Radleys are haunted and crazy. Maybe the Radleys are just very shy people who need some friends. Maybe the Radleys would let kids use their yard as part of the playground and eat their pecans that have fallen to the ground. All in all if people did not asume and fear the Radleys,they would not have to change their actions.