"Who gossips with you will gossip of you"

Gossip plays a very large part in To Kill a Mockingbird.  Many things that have been said thus far in the novel have been gossip.  The dialect that Harper Lee has written the book is very southern, and has a very particular slang.  The words are often changed from the truth to fit this dialect, creating some gossip.  The term gossip means to talk about someone else’s business, whether in front of them or behind their back.  Harper Lee has given the characters the ability to do so very easily.  With very few means of communication other than talking, it is rare that you are going to have a conversation that is not face-to-face.  Many times throughout the book, people get into fights over various reasons.  Some of these fights could very well be from gossip.  If someone tells a friend something that they heard, it could very well be a lie.  Unless there is proof of what they say, it is difficult to believe them. Gossip helps to create conflicts in the book.  A conflict can be something as simple as a small fight, or something that completely changes the setting and plot of the book.  Almost all of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are guilty of gossiping in one way or another.  This book was written by Harper Lee to inform the reader about some hardships that were endured by people living in the south.  One of the biggest hardships was dealing with gossip and how it was spread throughout a town quickly.  Many people talk to each other in the book, and especially neighbors.  A small secret can become public knowledge in a summer day.  This was something that Harper Lee tried to explain in her book.  The reason that To Kill a Mockingbird was as successful as it was is because of the style it was written in.  Gossip is a major part to this style.  The clip that we watched did a fantastic job of showing what gossip truly is.  Gossip is an enemy to most people and for an obvious reason.  Everyone is guilty of gossiping and many times, it was unintentional.  People do not realize that what they said would be told to the whole town.  If someone tells you a secret, are you purposely going to tell everyone you know?  You might not mean to, but after telling one person that secret, it could be spread throughout the town.  In conclusion, gossip is a huge part of To Kill a Mockingbird, because of the way Harper Lee wrote the book, and also because the book does a great job of showing what life really is like in the book.  This was a good blog post to answer because it is a question that can be perceived in many different ways.  Some people may think that gossip plays a very important role in the book, and others will completely disagree.  I believe that gossip plays a very big role in this book.  I am excited to read more of the book and to uncover more gossip being told.