On the contrary Gilbert is portrayed in a positive light, this is shown in the Sexton’s (John’s) description – ‘He were about as strapping a chap as I was (I used to six feet high)’ He then goes on to describe him as ‘A poor, unchristian heroism, whose manifestation consists in injury to others.’ This tells us the Sexton, once a rival of Gilbert, sees him as hero and good person. This is a well-respected person who is being listened to while telling others of Gilbert’s heroics. The audience respect the well-respected Sexton’s opinion and therefore Gilbert Dawson is portrayed in a positive light.
The stories are set in small towns that have tight-knit communities, outsiders struggle to fit into Maycomb and Lindal because of the fixed ways and traditions that are hundreds of years old. Scout refers to this as ‘Maycomb’s set of rules.’ There are instances from both stories to back this up.
In Maycomb Miss Caroline Fisher is soon showing her frailties in Maycomb knowledge and is not accepted by the four and five year olds after just one day! Miss Caroline shows her weakness when she insists she will lend Walter a small amount of money that he couldn’t pay back. The situation is made worse when Miss Caroline refuses to back down from her offer even when Scout tries to explain. This embarrasses Walter Cunningham even more and turns the class against her. This situation would probably not happen in many, if any, other towns than Maycomb and highlights how hard it is for outsiders to fit in.
In Lindal, Gilbert seems to fit in fine at first but he exposes his outsider differences and for that one fault or quality (in my view a quality) is ostracised. When Gilbert falls for Letty who has more than one admirer in the town, he is challenged to a fight against the Sexton, a friend and popular figure. Gilbert turns down the offer – ‘I cannot fight, because I think it is wrong to quarrel and use violence.’ This all happens in front of the ‘Lindal Lads’ and Gilbert is ostracised forever more. This is an example of how a popular person who has fitted in fine can be forgotten if he goes against the ways of the town. John highlights this saying, ‘Such a thing as refusing a fight had never been heard of afore at Lindal’
Both Boo and Gilbert are ostracised by their fellow townsfolk, both in different situations but there are striking similarities in the reasons why. Boo was once a popular young teenager who crossed the law, he was in a group of young lads from different generation with different values. This was different from the Maycomb tradition and not accepted. From then onwards he choose to stay away from the community.
Gilbert was in a similar situation; he was friendly with a group of young lads, he was popular, he didn’t cross the law but didn’t go by the ways of Lindal or follow tradition and the community did not accept his choice, just like in Boo’s case. Although, Gilbert and Boo weren’t give second chances by their communities and both made the decision to keep themselves to themselves. We mustn’t forget that Gilbert Dawson was an outsider with no links to the community, unlike Boo. So Boo must have felt extra grievance to the community.
Boo and Gilbert both react to their rejection from the communities in similar ways. This tells us a lot about the type of people they are and we discover they become very similar in many ways after this rejection.
Boo faces his rejection by staying in doors and keeping himself to himself and not even interacting with any non-family members. He is, however, interested by the towns on goings and cares for some members of the community. His caring for Scout and Jem shows this. He puts a blanket around Scout when Miss Maudie's house burns down, repairs Jem's trousers when he tears and loses them in the Radley garden and most obviously and importantly he saves Scout and Jem’s lives in the Bob Ewell attack.
This suggests Boo is a laid back person because he isn’t bothered by what people think and doesn’t make fuss over people who scapegoat him e.g. Stephanie Crawford. I think this suggests Boo has grown up a lot and changed since his rebel days as a teenager. For Boo to react in this way I think he is mentally strong and he has a lot of self-discipline because he must be tempted to go into town sometimes and react to people making lies and spreading rumours.
Gilbert reacts in a similar way to Boo, he to distances himself from the community and ‘Only finds company in the vicar.’ This shows that Gilbert doesn’t want to be associated or interact with disrespectful and un-understanding people. Gilbert, like Boo, doesn’t react in a violent way but just gets on with his life. I think this shows Gilbert is more mature than the ‘Lindal Lads’. He is a proud person and mentally strong like Boo, this is shown in his reply to Johns challenge to fight –‘I cannot fight, because I think it is wrong to quarrel and use violence’ this is a very brave thing to say in front of a group lads who you are popular with.
As each story nears its end the characters who have been ostracised for so long are viewed as heroes although not everybody realises the full extent of their heroics and neither character returns to the community as they were before they were ostracised.
The build up to each characters act of heroism is very effective in each story. Harper Lee and Elizabeth Gaskell build tension and an atmosphere as the acts of heroism approach. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee features the event in surroundings you would associate evil. For example it is Halloween, dark, late at night, Scout hears noises and they are walking in darkness, alone in a forest.
In Elizabeth Gaskell’s Sextons Hero, the build up to the act of heroism is developed by the events the writer lists. This makes the audience feel involved and gripped by the story. The writer describes how Gilbert has all the odds stacked against him. The writer uses emotive language to do this such as, ‘the words were crushed out of my heart with terror’ and ‘thick mists and heaving waters’ These two quotes show the ‘terror’ and panic the characters were feeling, this helps the audience imagine the setting. The emotive language like above all adds up to create an atmosphere that the audience can understand – in this case, how the odds were stacked against Gilbert.
Gilbert’s rise to hero is a quick and dramatic one. As noted before he still watches out for the people he cares about and he did on this occasion. He senses Letty and John might be in trouble with the fast waters coming in and time against them and he was on hand when help was needed. He saved Letty and John’s life by sacrificing his own, he didn’t need to put himself at risk but did. Because of his death he is viewed as more of a hero than if he had have survived and it would have been interesting to see how the community would have taken to him if he had survived.
Boo becomes a hero when he saves Jem and Scouts lives. He breaks up an attack from Bob Ewell who was trying to kill Jem and Scout. He stabbed and killed Mr Ewell with his own knife and then carried Jem home. This undoubtedly saved two lives and although Mr Ewell lost his he deserved to not just for his actions against Jem and Scout, but against Tom Robinson as well. In a few minutes Boo is turned from villain to hero and wins the reader’s heart with his bravery and sensitivity, as the whole book has portrayed the opposite.
I think Boo is treated as the greater hero than Gilbert because we didn’t expect an act like this from Boo and also we want Mr Ewell dead for his treatment of his children and the court case with Tom Robinson. Also there are countless other examples in the novel of how the reader has been turned against Bob e.g. The spitting in Atticus’ face! Although my opinion on who is a greater hero is Gilbert because he is fighting a much harder opponent and there is greater risk for his life then in Boo’s case. Therefore this is a much braver act and I view Gilbert’s heroics as greater than Boo’s.
It is from all these pieces of information that I have come to the conclusion that in both novels the writers have carefully crafted their strong opinions into stories that cover ‘touchy’ issues. Their views wouldn’t be tolerated by their communities at the time if they had have spoken out rather than being subtle and putting across their views in stories. This is clever because the writers did not want to lose support but did want to put their view across.
The stories the writers wrote were both very different but the basics of the points being made and how they were made were quite similar. The main thing to remember in each story was that a person who makes a mistake should always be forgiven and as it proved true in both cases. Also one action or moment does not make somebody a bad person and people do change. This is highlighted by the wisest and most respected character of the two novels, Atticus Finch… ‘You can never judge a person until you’ve stepped into their skin and walked around in it’
