A False and Junky Judgement
Imagine being judged and wrongly assumed when actually trying to be the best you
can. This situation occurred in a short fictional story called Mr.Peabody’s Apples by Madonna
where a man named Mr.Peabody spreaded kindness to his community all throughout, but all
he got was wrong judgements and thoughts full of hate saying that he stole an object. While
on the contrary Mr.Peabody actually payed the fruit seller(Mr.Funkadeli) in advance. The
theme of the story is to never judge a book by its cover, for the pages may hold a different
meaning.
To begin with, the theme in the story Mr.Peabody’s Apples is to never judge a book by
its cover since the most reasonable thought may not always be the truth. This is because in
the story Mr.Peabody’s Apples it explained, “Here Mr. Peabody would stop and admire Mr.
Funkadeli’s fresh apples. He would pick out the shiniest apple, drop it in his bag, and continue
on his way. Across the street, Tommy Tittlebottom watched with curiosity as Mr. Peabody
walked away with the apple.“That’s strange,” Tommy said to himself. “Mr. Peabody didn’t pay
anyone for the Apple.” Tommy got on his skateboard and rushed to tell his friends.” This
shows that Mr.Peabody, an innocent man is getting accused of stealing an apple when in
reality he is just admiring its shiny appearance and round structure. Instead of looking closely
at this, Tommy, a normal bystander, took a quick glance and wrongly judged the situation. To
explain further, Tommy should have looked carefully and should have considered his past and
prior knowledge of Mr.Peabody. If only he had remembered and had given himself enough
time to consider that Mr.Peabody is a responsible and respectable man, his thoughts and
judgements of the situations would have been drastically different. To add on in the short story
Mr.Peabody’s Apples it also stated, “Billy picked up the balls and bats, and Mr. Peabody set
off on his walk home. He waved to everyone he knew, and they waved back. Once again, he
stopped outside Mr. Funkadeli’s fruit market, picked up the shiniest apple, dropped it in his
bag, and continued on his way. Across the street, Tommy Tittlebottom and his friends
watched Mr.Peabody, and they were amazed at what they saw. Mr. Peabody had not paid for
his apple. They couldn’t wait to tell all of their friends, who told their parents, who told their
neighbors, who told their friends, in the town of Happville (which wasn’t a very big town).” This
thoroughly proves that Mr.Peabody is innocent because of how inattentive the townspeople
are. Even though they did not even see the event unfold, the townspeople are so quick to
jump to conclusions and judgements. To further clarify, it is not human to just look,glance,
process and judge. It is always the right thing to make sure you have the right information and
data before judging and publicizing a person’s actions since the thing that looks right cannot
always be correct. Sometimes looks can be deceiving and will invite you into destroying
another’s well earned reputation. In summary, not all that is white is milk, looks can be
deceiving and should never be used to quickly judge someone.
Also, another lesson that is in the story Mr.Peabody’s Apples is to never judge a book
by its cover since you might not always be fully right. This was proven time and again in the
short story Mr.Peabody’s Apples when it showed, “Oh dear, Mr. Peabody,” said Tommy, on
the doorstep. “I didn’t understand. I should not have said what I said, but it looked like you
hadn’t paid for the apples.” Mr. Peabody’s eyebrows went up a little, and he felt a warm
breeze blow across his face. “It doesn’t matter what it looked like. What matters is the truth.”
This proves that even though it looked like Mr.Peabody stole the apple and that the owner
didn’ notice, judging him from a far distance and saying that he is a thief is not the most
accurate judgment. This means that even though the evidence and situation are shining
towards a judgement, it is always possible to be wrong. To go in more depth, Mr.Peabody was
seen somewhat supposedly “stealing an apple” twice by Tommy. However even if the
evidence is shiny, bright and attractive to an intuitive judgement, it is still always possible to be
wrong because the human brain is always quick to make assumptions. The right step is to
always think twice and analyze a person’s character traits before judging them. To add on, in
the story Mr.Peabody’s Apples it similarly explained, “Aren’t you at the game?”“There wasn’t a
game today,” said Mr. Peabody, “and I was wondering if I could take my apple earlier than
usual?” “Sure, why not?” replied Mr. Funkadeli. “You pay for them every Saturday morning
when you pick up your milk. You can take them when you like. You want the big shiny one,
Mr. Peabody?” Mr. Peabody took his apple, smiled, and offered it to Billy.” This proves that
Mr.Peabody actually pays for his apples in advance and always picks them up at the same
time. Though on the outside it looked as if he didn’t pay Mr.Funkadeli for the apple, in reality
he was actually being responsible and paid for it ahead of time. In more depth, if Mr.Peabody
had not kept his cool and didn’t explain what had actually happened, everyone would have
naturally thought that he was a nasty thief who breaks other's trust. Instead, even with
knowing the others are wrong, Mr.Peabody calmly walked Billy over to Mr.Funkadeli to show
him what the real deal was. This proves that even though the door might not look right, if you
actually open it and look inside your judgement might change for the better. In conclusion,
judging a situation by its looks and evidence might be the right option, because there is
always room for a wrong and guilt filled judgment.
Lastly, another moral in the story Mr.Peabody’s Apples is to never judge someone since
the second hand information might not always be correct. In the short story Mr.Peabody’s
Apples it stated, ““That’s strange,” Tommy said to himself. “Mr. Peabody didn’t pay anyone for
the apple.” Tommy got on his skateboard and rushed to tell his friends.” This shows that
Tommy is going to tell his friends about Mr.Peabody with the wrong information, this will result
in them believing his wrong judgment and spreading false rumors themselves. This is a
foreshadow to a false accusation later in the story. To explain more, since Tommy didn’t think
twice before spreading his false and wrong information, false information about the very
respectable Mr.Peabody was revealed, leading to ruining his reputation. If the other
townspeople had not fully believed Tommy’s second hand information, no-one would have
falsely judged Mr.Peabody. This proves that second hand information cannot always be
reliable and can always have errors, it is always the right thing to cross-check it. To add on, in
the short story Mr.Peabody’s apples stated,“Tommy Tittlebottom and his friends said they saw
you take an apple from Mr.Funkadeli’s fruit market, twice, and they said you didn’t pay for
them,” answered Billy.
“Ahh,” said Mr. Peabody, putting his hat back on his head. “Let’s go and talk to Mr.
Funkadeli about it, shall we?”
They walked down the main street (which wasn’t a very big street), and Mr.
Peabody waved to all the people he knew, but now some of them did not wave back, and
some pretended they did not even see him.” This proves that everyone has been fools and is
believing false second hand information from a fool who isn’t sure about his judgment himself.
To lead into the false information about Mr.Peabody spreading like fire. To explain further,
since Tommy falsely accused Mr.Peabody of theft, Mr.Peabody’s rightly earned reputation
regarding respect and discipline was ruined. This means that though Tommy had the most
humanly thought, his evidence and realization was unreasonable. A man who is serving the
community with his heart will for sure not betray it for a simple apple.
In conclusion, the short fictional story by Madonna named Mr.Peabody’s Apples
explains the message of how not to quickly judge someone even in the most straightforward
circumstances. The character Mr.Peabody was a very respectable and disciplined man who
never thought twice to serve his community, however he ended up being falsely accused and
deserted by his own townspeople. Altogether, it is never the right thing to judge someone by
their actions at first glance since a book's pages might contain different information than the
cover.
