Trading Places Essay, Research Paper

Advanced English Ted Korolchuk

Mrs. Feldhausen 8-23-95

Trading Places

If I could trade places with somebody, it would be Atticus Finch, from the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. There are many reasons I would trade.

One of the reasons I would choose Atticus is because he is more considerate than I, and has a much better temper. For example, if Bob Ewell spit in my face, I would instinctively bash his head against the wall. Furthermore, when Scout beat up Cousin Francis for calling Atticus a racial slur, I would have said, “Cool! Keep up the good work!”

Atticus is also kinder than I am. In the book he was a very nice guy, such as when he invited that poor kid to eat at his house for lunch. That was very kind of him. I wouldn’t have invited him in the first place, as it was the depression, and I wouldn’t exactly call the Finches rich, either.

I would like to try life in his shoes, because he was such an outstanding member of the community. Also, I would like to see what life was like back then in the South. There are many things I would enjoy seeing, such as the average citizen’s political views, or if the average citizen even had one. It would also be fun to see what “technology” there was, although there was probably not much. Lastly I would enjoy seeing how people dealt with the low standard of living.

There are many differences between him and me. One is that I have never been persecuted. He was every day. That would not be fun. People wanted to kill him, which wouldn’t be fun either.

The other main difference was that he lives during a whole different time and place. The era of today is a lot nicer, materially, than back then, but there wasn’t so much crime, either, which leads me to believe that they were better people. I would still like to try living during that time for a couple of days, if only for the above reasons. I try to emulate his cool head, but I will not do things, “because Atticus does it that way.” He is a very good man in the book, and I think that everybody would do well to follow his lifestyle.