This song tremendously represents the struggle for freedom of many kinds in this chapter. Scout and Jem are always being criticized by Aunt Alexandra because they don’t act like “common” folk. They just want to be left alone and live their lives free of strange etiquette and racism. Tom Robinson was put in jail for a crime he probably didn’t do ( he was accused by a Ewell, they don’t have much credibility) and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob that would have probably killed him if Scout and the other children didn’t come along. Tom Robinson just wants to be treated fairly and be free from a racist society. Finally, the trial begins in this section and so does Tom’s fight for freedom, and if he fails he loses his life.
Archive for May 18th, 2009
18
May
Song: Freedom (13-16)
This is just part of a quote from the first sentence of chapter 15. The whole quote talks about what they had to do in order for Dill to stay in Maycomb after he ran away. This quote was an important part of the book because other than the “Maycomb Mob”, Dill running away to Maycomb and still getting to stay was the only other main part from the reading. I think that if Dill hadnt ran away, the rest of the book would be completely different because of the changes that Dill has made and probably will make. I also think that it might be good that Dill gets to stay because he might end up helping Jem and Scout with something…
When reading chapters 13-16 the biggest shock to me was when Mr. Cunningham and the other men all tried to fight Atticus so that they could kill Tom Robinson. This shocked me because I know that racism is part of the book but I wasnt expecting them to try and kill Tom Robinson. I thought that they would just convict him of the crime and he would be sentenced to life. But, when I found out they wanted to kill him, I was really caught off guard.
Another thing that suprised me was when Scout Jumped in the middle of the men and started to talk to them so that they would leave and not hurt Atticus or Tom Robinson. For the most part, the section of reading suprised me quite a bit.
18
May
Picture Response (13-16)
In Chapter 14 (page 185), Scout was afraid that there was a snake under her bed. When Jem came to the rescue, they realized it wasn’t a snake… it was Dill. My first reaction was that he was a creep for hiding there, but… where else would he go? This picture shows Scout’s initial thoughts about what was under her bed. You’d never expect to find one of your best friends hidden under your bed, so that’s why the picture portrays a monster. However, the girl in the picture seems very calm, just like Scout when she asked Jem for help.
The lynch mob lead by Mr. Cunningham in chapter fifteen was something I really didn’t expect to happen. Sure Maycomb is just as racist as any other southern town but it didn’t seem to me like the town would get violent about it. If the children hadn’t shown up, I think the men might have hurt Atticus and probably done something worse to Tom Robinson after that. Also, Mr. Underwood might’ve killed a couple of the men during the fight, too. If Scout hadn’t talked about Walter Cunningham, I think the drunken men would have actually hurt the children after those fifteen seconds.
And now for something completely different, I think that there is more to the story of why Dill ran away and went to the Finch house. Dill claimed he ran away because his parents weren’t paying enough attention to him. The story of how he was chained in the basement and rarely fed by his new father is a more likely reason to run away. Dill traveled from Meridian to Maycomb and nearly starved to death, someone wouldn’t go through all of that trouble just because his parents slightly neglect him. I’m sure if his parents “got along well” without him like he said, then they would have no problem with just sending Dill to Maycomb.
