People are afraid of what they don’t understand. How far is this statement true? Support your answer with close reference to the text.
People are afraid of what they do not understand because they don’t want to learn and accept the truth of something that had happened. Since people are different, they have different opinion. We can see this situation happening in the novel when Hannah and her family had been treated badly by some of the Turtle Lake’s villagers. They don’t understand that the Schermers were patriotic Americans. Instead, they perceived them as siding with German and became afraid of them.
In the beginning of the story, the writer wrote that Hannah has German blood running in her veins but she was born in Milwaukee, America. Her familym the Schermers is such a kind and nice family. Before the war started, the villagers treated them nicely, but everything changed when the war started. The villagers treated them badly and did terrible things such as vandalising the tavern and boycotting them. Fortunately, some villagers who think differently towards the Schermers helped them and continued treating them warmly. For example, some villagers painted the Schermer’s tavern with white painting to cover the words ‘DIRTY HUN’. This act helps the Schermers to feel better.
In another event at school, Mrs Hansen asked her students who were Hannah’s classmates to a sympathy card to express their regrets of what had happened. The popular kids said they didn’t want to sign the card as they thought the Schermers want the war to end with German’s victory. They even warned the whole class to not sign the card. Richard who had a different idea of the Schermers signed the card bravely. He knew some nice kids want to do the same, but they were too afraid of the troublemakers. After the school ended, Richard write something on the card with hope that it will make them feel better and sent it to the Schermers personally.
On another day, Mrs Hansen made an essay competition to pick the winners for a beauty pageant competition in accordance to a Patriotic program. Hannah won the best essay for girls and was asked to read her essay out loud in front of the classroom. When she was done, no one clapped except for Richard. Even though her essay was brilliant, no one acknowledged her talent. As the winner, Hannah will play the Lady Liberty’s role while Richard will be Doughboy. Some parents went to school to show their protest towards Mrs Hansen’s decision. They absent-mindedly thought that it wouldn’t be patriotic for Hannah to play a significant role in the Patriotic Program.
All the three events that I have written has proved that the people in Turtle Lake were aggressive towards the Schermers family because they do not understand the truth. Simply relating them to the Germans is a bit unfair, since Otto himself is fighting for America. If they are not patriotic, he sould not volunteer to be an American soldier. Because of the misunderstanding, they resort to violence and treated the Schermers’ family ver badly. Huns are nomadic, Mongolian horsemen who eventually overrun much of Europe. They have nothing to do with present-day Germans. Mr Higby has explained that in class but everyone refused to accept the truth. They wanted to put the blame and hatred on someone. The Schermers family became the scapegoat to their hatred.
We can see that the current issue in te global world is very similar to what is written in the novel. People nowadays are also afraid of what they do not understand. For example, when Muslims defend their country, they are called terrorists. When Muslim students further their study to United States of America, they were afraid of the Muslim students and lavel them as terrorist. They do not understand that prejudice caused them to be afraid of something that does not happen. Their mind is poisoned by the potrayal in the media. When non-muslims attack other country, they are called heroes and the citizens aren’t afraid because they perceive that action as defending their country.
To sum up, we need to learn to understand a situation so that we won’t misjudge. As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. We need to study the truth so that we won’t hurt innocent people and always think positively. Hurting others for our own satisfaction won’t solve a problem. We should not be like Abner and Harry. For those who do understand, should stay and give encouragement, just like what Richard did to Hannah.
Essay written by :
1. Nurzarifah Hanim Bt Abdul Zahari
2. Hidayatunnisa
3. Laila Nur Baraqah Bt Rosdi
4. Syahidah Syahirah
5. Nurul Rabwah Bt Shaharuddin
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