In the chapter 10-12 reading, there where many things that stood out a lot and were very interesting. The biggest suprise to me though was when Atticus took down the dog in one shot. This suprised me because like Scout, I saw Atticus a much older acting man compared to the others, and I never really thought he would do something like what he did. It suprised me greatly when Ms. Maudie tells Scout about how Atticus was such a great shooter when he was younger. I thought that Atticus would have been the one always doing his work for school and not worrying about anything other than that. The other things that were suprising was when Jem hit Mrs. Dubose’s flowers and when Calpurnia decided to take two white kids to an all “colored” church.
Archive for May 11th, 2009
11
May
It Was A Perfect Shot!
This song represents how much almost everyone in Maycomb is experiencing a change. First of all, the people of Maycomb were described as peaceful and mostly positive during the beginning of the novel. Now that Atticus is defending an African American man, the people of the town are being racist and hateful towards Atticus and his children. Even the other Finches say that Atticus is ruining the family’s reputation by defending Tom Robinson. While Scout has remained the same for most of the novel, Jem has been experiencing a lot of change. He has grown greatly and can tolerate a lot of things the town says about Atticus and has a more mature understanding of the world than Scout. Jem also understood that Boo was trying to be friends with Scout and him and also that Nathan Radley closed that hole because he wanted to end his attempts at friendship (Jem showed how crushed he was by weeping about it later).
This quote is found on page 53 when Jem yelled at Scout to run. This quote is important because is shows how scared Jem was for his and everybody’s life. He said this right after someone shot the shotgun and Jem was stuck in the fence. To me, this quote shows how much he cares about Scout and Dill, Even though Scout was mad at him for leaving her out of anything. I think he was only doing it because He cares for her and doesnt want her to get hurt, and thats why he was leaving her out of all the risky things him and Dill did.
In the last few chapters, Scout and Jem found more things in the tree’s knothole. Instead of immediately assuming it was theirs, they left it a few days. When it was still there, they concluded that anything found in the knothole was theirs. Who was leaving them these “gifts”? I think it was Boo Radley (after Miss Maudie told Jem and Scout how Boo wasn’t all bad. He only wanted to have fun, but his parents were “foot-washing” Baptists and didn’t let him live life.) This could have been Boo’s way of trying to teach them that he meant no harm.
The picture shows a haunted house with a tree in front of it. Even though the house seems dark and depressing, the tree gives off light. The knothole was a gift to Scout and Jem, but Mr. Radley covered it with cement after they decided to thank the stranger giving them gifts.
pic credits: puhilitschols.blogspot.com & minor editing by me
One thing that I noticed when I was reading that stood out a significantly was in chapter 6, when Jem found his pants stitched and neatly folded on the fence when he went back for them. This was odd to me because Earlier before one of the parents was talking about how Mr. Radley was waiting on his porch ready to for someone to try and come back. But, somehow his pants still were folded. this confused me because I still cant decide who folded them; Boo or Mr. Radley. I cant figure out how Boo could have done it with Mr. Radley sitting on the porch the entire time, but I don’t understand why Mr. Radley would have taking the time to do it for no reason. Other than this, I didn’t really think that out of the ordinary.
11
May
The Truth Revealed (5-9)
I enjoyed reading this section because it shed some light on the mysterious story of Arthur “Boo” Radley. Anyone reading the story could guess that Boo likely left those presents in the knothole. This shows that Boo likely just wants to befriend Scout and Jem and isn’t really a bad person. Later in the section, Nathan Radley later filled the hole with cement, claiming that the tree was dying. I think that he found out that Boo was giving Scout and Jem things through that hole, so that’s why he closed it. I think Boo is just the victim of an oppressive and antisocial family.
I don’t think its Boo’s fault that he never leaves the house or plays with the other children. Miss Maudie explained to Scout that the Radleys are “foot washing” Baptists that think any good feelings are sins. Miss Maudie claimed that all of the rumors about Boo were false, and since she is practically the opposite of Stephanie Crawford, what she says is probably true. My theory is that during Boo’s childhood, he rebelled against his family’s ways and hung out with people, having a good time and enjoying himself. Once his family was aware of his shenanigans, they did all they could to oppress him and try to make him more like the rest of them by locking him up and keeping him by himself. I think that when Jem lost his pants that one summer night, Boo did his best to help him by sewing them up and putting them where Jem could find them.
