Chris Essay 5
October 14, 2009
Mr. Salsich
English

FINAL DRAFT
Privacy:
A world of seclusion

(TS) Privacy: The quality or condition of being secluded from the presence or view of others. (CM) This is a great definition of privacy. (CM) If you are a private person, you are secluded, concealed from the public. (thesis) I believe that there are two types of people in this world; ones that are private, and ones that are public. And, without this diversity, the world would be very different.

(TS) I believe that privacy is a very important theme in To Kill a Mockingbird, and in chapter five specifically. (SD) Arthur Radley is the most private person in the book. (CM) He never goes outside, he just stays in the comfort of his home. This makes him private because no one really knows what he looks like. (CM) The windows at the Radleys’ house are close and the shutters are drawn. Nobody knows what he does inside his house. (SD) Dill is also a very private person. (CM) Although he is good friends with Jem and Scout, he keeps many aspects of his life secretive. For instance, he says his father is many different things; he doesn’t stick with one thing that his dad actually does. (CM) Also, Dill says that he has a mother and father but he doesn’t really talk about them much; he is very secretive about them. (SD) However, one character in this book is not very private: Miss Maudie. (CM) Boo Radley is private and secluded; however, Miss Maudie is very public, and sociable (Antithesis). (CM) Miss Maudie also talks to Jem, Scout and Dill, lets them play in her yard, and sometimes bakes them cakes. She also talks to them about things that happen in her life. She is definitely not a private person. (CS) In everyday life, we notice that some people are very secretive, while others talk about things. (Antithesis) There are many great examples of this in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird.

(TS) Privacy is not restricted to within To Kill a Mockingbird; there are many private people in this world, and many that are not. (SD) I myself am not a private person, nor a public person. (CM) Unlike the Radleys, I do not stay in my home, blocking out the world; I talk to people, and go out into the world. (CM) However, unlike some people, I do not like being alone with everyone watching me; for instance, performing on a stage. (SD) There are also some people I know that are very private; for example, my Uncle Doug’s father, Frank. (CM) Frank, private and unsociable, stays in his home most of the time. (Appositive) He makes his own food or has his food delivered. (CM) He also doesn’t like to talk, and is uncomfortable amongst large numbers of people. (SD) As a stark contrast, my Uncle Doug, is a very public person. (CM) He is a nurse, so he is around lots of people every day and he really enjoys it. (CM) He is also very talkative, and rarely found sitting around his house. (CS)

(TS) Whether they are found in To Kill a Mockingbird, or in the world around us, private people and public people are everywhere. It is this mix, this diversity, which makes up the world we live in. (CM) There are people in the book that are private, including Dill and Boo, but there are also public people, like Miss Maudie. (CM) However, there are also many public and private people in the real world, and I know many. (CS) The world sometimes seems like it has a tinted window, a one way mirror. As we look at the private people around us we see nothing, an empty house. However, what we do not know is that there are truly people behind that mirror, watching the world go by while they do nothing.