“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover”

This essay was written by Lower Sixth Form student Marcus Woodhouse and was a joint winner of the RGS 2023/24 4000 Characters essay competition. In this competition, students had to submit an essay of no more than 4000 characters (including spaces!) inspired by the quote ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover’.

Part I

A young man walks gaily past you. His face is broad, and his smile broader. It’s not long before you see the man enter the brief embrace of his companions, and you watch them disappear around the corner. You wish, for one instance, to obtain the ability to see inside that man’s mind – to see what true happiness feels like. The moment passes as your own life comes calling, and the lights blink red for you to safely cross.

The experience doesn’t cross your mind all day at work. There are things to get done, deadlines to sneak under, and people to avoid. You’re far too busy to waste time mulling over your own life, let alone a stranger’s. In fact, you make absolutely nothing of it until Sunday evening. You’ve just settled down into your living room chair, with a cup of tea on the table and a nearly empty pack of rich tea biscuits lying beside it.

You’d been meaning to check the latest updates on the roadworks near your house, so you search for the local news and scroll through the headlines. “Surrey could see snow in a matter of hours.” “Fish and chip shop off the A3 deemed one of the best in the UK.” They seem to have forgotten about the roadworks, but you keep scrolling until something catches your eye. “Student, 21, commits suicide in renewed male mental health epidemic.”

The headline, as shocking as it should be to you, fails to make much of a mark, but the picture alongside it cuts you to your very core. The man’s broad face and his even broader smile almost fill the frame.

Your mind instantly flits back to that moment the other day, as he passed you seemingly without a care in the world. No amount of observation or analysis could have ever told you, from the outside, that his spark would be stamped out within a matter of days. Your jaw hangs open, and your heart sinks like a stone. You’ll move on in a few minutes, and get ready for the long week ahead, but you’ll remember that feeling of dread and regret for a lifetime.

Part II

A young man walks gaily down the street. His face is broad, and his smile broader. He’s on his way to meet some old school friends before they go out later for a nostalgia-stoked evening of good food and better beers. The man engages in a brief hug with each member of the group, as one of them exclaims how long it’s been. The atmosphere is jovial, and the merry band set off around the corner.

Later that night, the man can be seen either engaged in frantic reminiscing or emptying another glass to the delight of his peers. Everyone is having a blast, and their inhibitions are slipping away. The group becomes so rowdy that they are forced out onto the streets, but who cares? Life is good, and the pressures of young adulthood seem to have floated away with the wind. The party simply moves to someone’s flat.

Someone finds a speaker, and the night is filled with the blare of drunken karaoke. No one had expected the night to be this fun. The hours sift away. The man is slurring his words now, and his balance is starting to fade, so he decides that now is probably the time to leave. He thanks the flatmates for their generosity and joins in with one last round of drinks before they all begin to disperse. Then he says his goodbyes and begins a brisk walk to the station to catch the last train back.

The man never boards the train. The conductor denies ever seeing him that night. His death leaves a gaping hole in the lives of all those around him. His friends are left forever shocked and saddened. His college mourns the loss of one of its brightest students. His stricken parents separate and live out the rest of their days in grief. They never had any idea.

Conclusion

Don’t judge a book by its cover, but rather by the words on the pages. People say that they could spot a struggling friend, but the reality is that it can be impossible to know whether someone’s problems are starting to engulf them. So, open up with those around you and make sure they’re OK. Don’t wait until it’s necessary but do it because you care.