If we get away, you know we might just stay away

First: Sorry if I weirded anybody out with that last post. I get like that something, and it's not even really a weird mood, or being upset or anything, it's just being too smart for my own good! (yeah, right.)

So, yesterday I finished To Kill a Mockingbird--It only gave more reason to lament on the fact that I didn't have Big Mikey for American Lit. That is to say, I quite enjoyed it! It was one of the few books that are written as 'Coming of Age' novels that I actually went "Oh! It is!" for. Actually, only one of two, and the other is Demian. (Which maybe I mentioned, but I can't remember now.) But really? Lord of the Flies is 'Coming of Age'? No! It's a good book, but really I'd say it's more showing how society degrades and perverts when no one of authority can control it. Killing a fat kid (Piggy) and a kid symbolizing Jesus (Simon) hardly seems like coming of age to me... Nor does brutally murdering pigs and then going after fellow children like they're animals, or burning an island to cinders. Just saying, is all.
But! Yes! To Kill a Mockingbird! First, Atticus is my hero. Really, he's a good man. At first I thought he was kind of harsh and distant (kind, but he had a rough edge, you know?), but at the trial I fell in love with him. That scene was so damn frustrating (which I guess it's supposed to be) I was getting visibly upset. Thank God no one stopped by while I was reading through those chapters... Honestly, I was feeling embarrassed to be white. I was sitting there going "White people are such a-holes. Goddamn white people!" I mean, the Ewells were sick, to frame poor Tom. Especially the daughter! After coming onto him and such, to make it seem like--well, I'm sure the father threatened her, or couldn't admit to himself that she'd be attracted to Tom, or maybe she really is just a sour apple. But to do that--ughh. But then Atticus came in like the hero that he is and defended Tom. I don't really know much about the South in the 30's, well, lynchings were still going on, if what I've read is to be believed... and if that's the case, and if that much racism still existed, Atticus is really a good man for all those factors. And even today, as much as it saddens me to say it, he really is a capital guy. How many people today have views like his? He truly 100% believed all men were created equal. Everyone should be like that--that capital. (Wow, 1920's lingo...) But yeah. Atticus is my hero.
I think Mr Raymond's a really good guy, too, which may sound strange. But he was kind of martyring himself for the people, you know? He acts like a drunken fool so people have something real to dislike about him and to find offensive about him--instead of, or along with, the fact that he is married to a black woman. But he does it so the people... well, really won't have to change their ways... because they wouldn't be able to comprehend his marriage or his lifestyle, and he's not... not forcing them to? ("Blame it on the al-al-alcohol?") Look, I'm not very articulate, okay? But at least humor me like you get what I'm saying.
A scene I really liked is when Scout is talking about how Jem got obsessed with Egyptians, and he tells her they "invented toilet paper and perpetual embalming" and Atticus tells her "if you get rid of the adjectives you'll have the facts". I'm not really sure why I liked that scene so much--I mean, it was funny, but not uproariously so. If I wasn't so fond of it, I probably would have forgotten it by now. But it was just cute, I guess.

Aaand. The scene towards the end where Miss Gates describes democracy and asks Scout... (DISCLAIMER: I KNOW ZERO ABOUT POLITICS OR WHATEVER THIS WOULD BE CONSIDERED. ) Scout says "'Equal rights for all, special privileges for none'". Suddenly, I feel as though I'm in Animal Farm. Now, like I said, I don't know much about about the governmental scope. Okay? You're getting a basically uneducated opinion/musing here. But that... that sounds like communism? Well, maybe more like Marxism. (Just to do away with the unpleasant associations, there) But, you know. Going back to Animal Farm (ANIMALS MAKE IT EASY TO UNDERSTAND DIFFICULT THINGS) "All animals are equal". Implying exactly what Scout said, right? Ignoring when it's bastardized (what a fun verb!) towards the end of Animal Farm... So... So I don't know. Just thought it was something worth making a note of, and speculating on more when I stop being too dumb to understand it well.
Oh good god look what you've begun. ... Socialism? What the--Why are there so many different names for this!? Isn't it, well, mostly the same? Or has the same base roots? Well, what I'm getting at is Oscar Wilde was for socialism... It's been a while since I've read 'The Soul of Man Under Socialism" but one point I remember very clearly is that it would be what Jesus lectured (is that the right word for it?) about--all men being equal (and none of them being more equal than others!). So... it would be the more 'holy' choice? More appealing to religious types? I don't know, I just thought I'd throw that out there while I'm on what I think is a similar subject. When I get The Collected Oscar Wilde back from Jenna I guess I'll reread it and respond for everyone who cares so much.

Today was a perfect day for some Jonathan Safran Foer, but darn those favorite English teachers of mine who have them for the summer. Curses! So I started rereading Catch-22, which I've already fallen in love with all over again. Really, it's a great book, and if you haven't read it yet... Shame on you!

I also went to the library and decided what my summer reading book will be... Doctor Zhivago. Yes, because of Into the Wild, okay? Sheesh. And yes, for the record, I did spell that 'Wilde' at first. I also checked out The Shining by Stephen King and Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut, as well as a few Bob Dylan CDs and a Franz Ferdinand CD.