Chapter 16

Today we had the chapters 10-12 Quiz & the Vocabulary test.
After the test we discussed about chapter 16 in class groups.

HOMEWORK:
-Read chapter 17 for Monday
- Finish chapter 16 questions
- Complete the active reading page

Chapter 16
Summary:
Scout cries that night and Jem consoles her. Atticus says that Mr. Underwood despises black people, but was still willing to defend Atticus. Aunt Alexandra urges Atticus not to speak like that in front of Calpurnia, but Atticus protests as usual, claiming fairness and honesty are important. Scout wonders out loud why Mr. Cunningham wanted to hurt Atticus when he usually is Atticus's friend. Atticus explains that some people can forget that they are human beings when they become part of a mob. Clearly moved by the situation, Atticus explains to her that it took an eight-year-old girl to bring them to their senses.

Tom's trial begins, and despite warnings from Atticus to stay at home, Scout, Jem, and Dill go to the courthouse where the locals are all out picnicking in the park. They notice Mr. Dolphus Raymond drinking liquor from a paper bag and sitting with the black people. Jem explains that he married a black woman and that he has "mixed" children. Jem says that these children are "sad" because they don't feel accepted by black people or by white people - though they can be accepted in the North. They see one of the mixed children and Scout thinks he looks black. She asks Jem how to determine whether someone is "mixed" or not and Jem says that you can't tell by looking, you have to know their history. The Finch family is all white, but Jem considers that during Biblical times, it is possible some of their ancestors came from Africa. However, Jem notes that probably doesn't count because it was so long ago. In Maycomb county, if anyone has a drop of black blood, society considers them all black.

In the packed courthouse, the children have trouble getting seats until Reverend Sykes helps them find seats upstairs in the balcony where the black people sit. Scout observes Judge Tayor, whom she considers to be a rather good, sensible judge.

Analysis:
Scout and Jem's discussion of "mixed" children demonstrates the irrationality of prejudice. A "mixed" child could look completely black or completely white, but would still be considered "black" either way. Yet, family history is also a poor determinant of race, because as Jem points out, the human race probably originated in Africa or the Middle East, and a drop of black blood makes a person "black." Therefore, neither image nor family history is infallible. Thus, discrimination is shown to be even more arbitrary and senseless.

The Finch children again find themselves welcomed and even honored among blacks when Reverend Sykes invites them to the balcony, and chairs are vacated in the front row on their behalf.

Chapters 14-15

We watched another little bit of the "To kill a mockingbird movie".

We later covered chapters 14-15 in class.

HOMEWORK:

-Do chapters 14-15 Questions

-Read chapter 16

-Chapters 10-12 Quiz & Vocab.

Chapter 14
Summary:
Scout asks her father what rape is. He tells her it is "carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent." Later on, Aunt Alexandra finds out that Scout and Jem went to the black church with Calpurnia and tries to forbid Scout from visiting Calpurnia’s home. Moreover, Aunt Alexandra tries to make Atticus fire Calpurnia, but he refuses on the grounds that she's done an excellent job of running the house and raising the children, and the children love her. Jem takes Scout aside and tries to tell her not to antagonize their aunt. He and Scout get into a fist fight, which Atticus breaks up, saying that Scout doesn't have to obey Jem unless he can make her do so.

That night Scout feels something under her bed and thinks a snake his hiding there. She gets Jem to investigate, and they discover Dill hiding under Scout's bed. Dill tells a long story about being locked and chained in a basement and escaping with a traveling animal show. Then, he tells the real story of how he stole money from his mother's purse, and walked and hitched his way from the train station to the Finch house. Dill is very hungry and Scout gets him some cold cornbread to eat while mentally noting that Dill is now "home." Jem says that Dill should let his mother know where he is and goes to report the situation to Atticus. Scout remarks that by taking this action, Jem "broke the remaining code of our childhood". However, Atticus is lenient, and calls Miss Rachel to inform her of the situation and ask if Dill can stay the night. Miss Rachel appears on the scene and reprimands Dill but allows him to stay. Dill and Jem sleep in Jem's room, which adjoins Scout's room.

Late at night, Dill wakes Scout up and asks if he can sleep with her. He explains that his new father and mother don't seem interested in him, and that is why he left. They were kind to him, but did not seem to need him around. To Dill, it seemed they would rather spend time alone together that with him. Scout realizes how lucky she is to have a family that needs her. Then Dill suggests that they have a baby together, and even though he knows how babies are made, he makes up a long dreamy story about a magic island where babies are collected like flowers. Scout wonders why Boo Radley doesn't run away, and Dill replies saying maybe Boo doesn't have anywhere to run to.

Chapter 15
Summary:
Dill is allowed to stay for the summer. Just a week later, events surrounding the trial begin to come to a head. First, a group of men pay a call to Atticus at his home. Jem and Scout watch from inside. The men make allusions to Tom being moved to the Maycomb jail the next day (Sunday), because the trial will occur on Monday. They are concerned that the "Sarum bunch" will cause some trouble, but Atticus thinks they won't do anything (such as a lynching) on a Sunday night. Mr. Link Deas warns Atticus that he has everything to lose from the trial, but Atticus says that he wants the truth to come out. Jem is concerned that the men outside mean Atticus harm, but Atticus assures him later that those men are his friends and are not part of a gang or the Ku Klux Klan, whom Atticus claims is gone and will never come back. Jem overhears Aunt Alexandra warning Atticus that he is bringing disgrace to the family name. Jem is still concerned for Atticus's safety.

On Sunday there are more people at church than ever in Scout's memory - even Mr. Underwood from the town newspaper is there, and he almost never attends church. Later that afternoon, Atticus leaves the house in his car, carrying an electrical extension cord with a light bulb at the end. He refuses to allow Jem and Scout to come. Around 10:00pm, Jem starts changing his clothes and tells Scout that he's going downtown. Scout insists on coming, and they pick up Dill on the way. They look for Atticus in his office, but finally spy him sitting outside the county jail, with the light bulb providing light for him to read his book. The children stay a safe distance away so Atticus won’t notice them. Jem feels reassured knowing where his father is, but as they are about to head home, four old cars come into town. A shadowy group of men emerges. Atticus informs them that the sheriff is nearby, but they counter that they called him into the woods on false pretenses. Atticus still seems unperturbed. Suddenly Scout runs out into the circle, but is taken aback when she realizes that these men are strangers to her. Atticus orders the children to go home, but Jem refuses. One man picks up Jem by the collar, and Scout kicks the man in the groin. Jem still refuses to leave.

Scout becomes interested in the men, who smell of "whiskey and pigpen" and are dressed in heavy dark clothes despite the summer night. Looking for a friendly face in the group, she recognizes Mr. Cunningham, the father of Walter from her class at school. Trying to be cordial, she innocently begins to talk to Mr. Cunningham about how Walter is a good boy, and recounts how they invited him home for dinner one day, and asks Mr. Cunningham to say hello to his son for her. Then she tries to engage him on the topic of his entailment, which she heard her father mention once, but notices that everyone is staring at her. Mr. Cunningham bends down to Scout’s height and says, "I'll tell him you say hey, little lady." The men decide to disperse, and go home in their cars. Mr. Underwood reveals himself in a nearby window with a gun, pointing out that he had them covered the whole time. The Finch family and Dill head home.

Chapter 13

We had two classes.

We first covered chapter 13, and in our second

class we did some vocabulary review.

Homework:

- Finish Chapter 13 questions

- Read chapters 14-15 by the night of May 28th

Our next class in May 29th, so we will cover both Chapters.

About Aunt Alexandra:
Aunt Alexandra is Atticus’ sister, and Jem and Scout’s Aunt. Atticus called on her to live at the Finch’s house simply because he thought that Scout needed a female influence, what with being raised by her father and her brother.

Aunt Alexandra is constantly nagging Scout about wearing overalls, and how she should try to act more like a lady. She is also very socially conscious, and is always telling Scout and Jem that they should not interact with those who are lower than the Finches in the social pyramid. For example, Aunt Alexandra would not let Scout go to church with Calpurnia anymore, because she believed that Cal was below them. This was because she was only a maid.

She also wouldn’t let Scout play with Walter Cunningham, because she thought he was “trash”. She is very proud of her family and tries very hard to "uphold the family name". Because of this, this makes her a very big enforcer of two kinds of prejudice in the novel; gender and social prejudice. It also causes her to disagree with Scout.

A Quote by Aunt Alexandra:"The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and new suit, but he'll never be like Jem."

Chapter 13
Summary:
Aunt Alexandra has decided (and convinced Atticus) it would be best for the family if she stays with them for "a while," which worries Scout even though she knows there's nothing to be done. Aunt Alexandra establishes herself in the neighborhood and continues to pester the children about what they should and should not do. She is old-fashioned and proper, and often refers to the people of Maycomb in light of their family history.

She seems to believe that behaviors and character traits are hereditary, passed on from one generation to the next - one family might have a Gambling Streak, or a Mean Streak, or a Funny Streak. She also judges families on the basis of how long they have been settled in the same place. Those who have stayed on the same land for many generations are deemed "Fine Folks," whereas Scout always thought that "Fine Folks" were those who "did the best they could with the sense they had." Scout reasons that in Aunt Alexandra's eyes, the Ewells, who are very poor, are "Fine Folks," because they have stayed on the same land by the town dump for three generations, which clearly is not the case.

Scout remembers how Maycomb was founded around an old tavern run by a man named Sinkfield. Its location was very far inland and away from the only form of transportation in that day - riverboats. Thus, the original town families tended to intermarry a great deal, until most people looked fairly similar in the town. Newcomers arrived rarely, and when a new person married a Maycomb family, the new genes were noticeable. Most old people still know each other so well that every behavior is somewhat predictable and repetitive.

Aunt Alexandra wants the children to know all about the Finch family and uphold its genteel heritage, but Atticus has not introduced them to the entirety of their family history, and instead has told them amusing stories, such as how their cousin Josh went insane at university. Aunt Alexandra tries to pressure Atticus into telling the children why they should behave and "live up to your name." Atticus makes an attempt, but when Scout begins to get upset with this strange side of her father she has never seen before, he returns to his original principles and finds himself incapable of passing on what Aunt Alexandra deems important. Scout is relieved when her father returns to the same old Atticus, and says she knew what he was trying to do, but that "it takes a woman to do that kind of work."

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR OTHER EXAMS!

Chapter 12

We talked about the top 3 plot events for Chapter 12.

HOMEWORK:

-Chapter 12 questions

- Read Chapter 13

Part Two
Chapter 12
Summary:
Jem is growing up and becoming moody and temperamental. Scout tries to give him his space, and looks forward to Dill coming in the summer. Unfortunately Dill doesn't arrive that summer - he writes to explain that he has a new father and has to stay in Meridian. To make matters worse, Atticus has to leave for two weeks for an emergency session with the state legislature. Instead of letting the children go to church unattended that Sunday, Calpurnia takes them to the First Purchase African M.E. church, an all-black congregation. Calpurnia takes special pains to make sure they are cleanly-scrubbed and as perfectly dressed as possible on Sunday.

At the church, a black woman named Lula tries to tell Calpurnia that white children don't belong at the church. However, Calpurnia points out that it's the same God, and the rest of the congregation welcomes the newcomers. Scout is surprised to hear Calpurnia speak in the same black dialect as the others, because at home, Calpurnia always speaks proper English. Inside the church, everything is much simpler than in the church she is used to, and there are no hymnbooks.

Reverend Skyes announces that the collection taken up today will go to Helen, the wife of Tom Robinson. Calpurnia's son Zeebo, the town's trash collector, leads the congregation in hymns, singing each line and having the group repeat it back to him. Reverend Sykes gives a sermon, which seems similar to the sermons Scout is used to, except that he makes examples of particular people in the congregation to illustrate his points. After collection time, the Reverend counts the money collected and announces that they must raise ten dollars to give to Helen Robinson. He orders for the doors to be closed until everyone gives more.

After the service, Scout asks Reverend Sykes why Helen needs the collection money when she can still go to work and take her children with her. Reverend Sykes explains that she may have trouble getting any work in the fields now. Scout asks Calpurnia about this, and Calpurnia explains that it's because Tom has been accused of raping Bob Ewell's daughter. Mr. Ewell had Tom arrested and put in jail. Scout remembers that the Ewells are the ones who only come to school once a year, and are what Atticus calls "absolute trash." Calpurnia won't tell her what rape is. Scout then asks her why they don't have hymnbooks at her church, and Calpurnia explains that only a few people at the church can read.

Scout also learns that Calpurnia used to work at the Landing for Miss Maudie's aunt, Miss Buford, who taught her to read. Jem asks Calpurnia why she doesn't speak with proper grammar around black people, and Calpurnia explains that it would be out of place, and that she would look pretentious. The others don't want to learn to speak the "right" way, she says, so she speaks their language. Scout asks if she can come over to Calpurnia's house sometimes to see how she lives at her own home, and Calpurnia says yes. When they arrive home, they discover Aunt Alexandra sitting on their porch.

Chapter 11

Today we had a quiz on chapters 7-9 ,

The Jim Crow Laws, and Lynching.

HOMEWORK:

-Read Chapter 12 for Monday

-Finish Chapter 11 Questions

Chapter 11
Summary:

On their way to meet Atticus after work, Scout and Jem have to pass by Mrs. Dubose’s house. Mrs. Dubose is a very mean, sick old lady who sits on her front porch and yells insults at Jem and Scout as they pass by. The day after Jem's twelfth birthday, he and Scout go to town to spend some of his birthday money. On the way, Mrs. Dubose yells to Jem that he broke Miss Maudie's grape arbor that morning, which is untrue, and yells at Scout for wearing overalls. Then she starts yelling at them about how Atticus is defending "niggers," and says that Atticus is no better than "the trash he works for." Jem tries to follow Atticus's advice regarding Mrs. Dubose: just hold your head high and be a gentleman. In town, Jem buys himself a model steam engine and buys Scout a sparkly twirling baton she has had her eye on for some time.

On the way home, in a sudden fit of anger, Jem suddenly grabs Scout's baton, cuts off all the tops of Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes, and then snaps her baton in half. Scout watches, amazed, and begins to scream. They return home and gloomily await Atticus's return, knowing that they will be in trouble. Atticus comes home carrying green camellia buds and Scout's broken baton. He makes Jem go to Mrs. Dubose's house and apologize to her in person. Scout and Atticus discuss the necessity of keeping one's head even when times get hard. Atticus explains that he has to follow his conscience, no matter what anyone else in the town says. Jem returns from Mrs. Dubose’s house. Atticus tells him one can't hold a sick old lady responsible for what she says. Jem explains that Mrs. Dubose wants him to read out loud to her every afternoon for a full month.

Scout and Jem go to Mrs. Dubose’s house, which is dark, frightening, and full of medical equipment. Mrs. Dubose is lying in bed, and she looks friendly but her face is old and hideous. Jem begins to read Ivanhoe and Mrs. Dubose snaps at him when he pronounces any word incorrectly. As time passes, the old woman stops speaking and her mouth opens and closes while her head sways from side to side. Jem asks her if she is all right, but she doesn't reply. In a few minutes, an alarm clock sounds, and Mrs. Dubose's assistant shoes them out of the room and tells them to go home because it is time for Mrs. Dubose's medicine. This same sequence of events happens every time Scout and Jem go to Mrs. Dubose’s house.

Scout asks Atticus what a nigger-lover is, and he says that it's just a meaningless term that "ignorant, trashy people use when they think somebody's favoring Negroes above themselves." He tells her that these words hurt the people who say them more than they hurt him.
The end of the month arrives and Mrs. Dubose asks Scout and Jem to read to her for one more week. Each day, it seems that they stay there a little longer before the alarm sounds. When Mrs. Dubose makes remarks about Atticus's case, Jem responds with detachment and keeps his anger hidden.

Weeks after the last day of reading, Atticus receives a phone call and goes to Mrs. Dubose's house for a long time. He comes back to announce that she is dead, and tells the children that she was a morphine addict. Jem and Scout’s visits helped break her from her morphine addiction, which the doctors had prescribed for her as a painkiller for her illness. Atticus explained to his children that Mrs. Dubose is an example of true courage. Even though she knew she was going to die, Mrs. Dubose wanted to be free of her addiction. Atticus tells Jem that courage is about more than men with guns. Instead, it is about knowing you're going to lose but sticking to your views and fighting anyway. Mrs. Dubose won, because she died beholden to nothing. Atticus calls her "the bravest woman I ever knew."

Emmett Till and Jim Crow Signs

Today we talked about Emmett Till and Jim Crow laws in America.

When then watched a slide show about Jim Crow Signs.

Chapter 10 was covered in class.

HOMEWORK:

- Read Chapter 11

-Do Questions for Chapter 10

CHAPTERS 7-9 Quiz plus Lynching and Jim Crow laws next class!

ABOUT THE EMMETT TILL STORY:

In 1955, Till and his cousin were sent for a summer stay with Till's great-uncle, Moses Wright, who lived in Money, Mississippi (another small town in the Delta, eight miles north of Greenwood).
Before his departure for the Delta, Till's mother cautioned him to "mind his manners" with white people.

Till arrived on August 21. On August 24, he joined other teenagers as they went to Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market to get some candy and soda. The teens were children of sharecroppers and had been picking cotton all day. The market was owned by a husband and wife, Roy Bryant and Carolyn Bryant, and mostly catered to the local sharecropper population. Till's cousin and several black youths, all under 16, were reported to have been with Till in the store.
Depending on who tells the story, as Till was leaving the store, he either whistled at or physically assaulted and propositioned Carolyn Bryant. She stood up and stormed to her car. The boys were terrified thinking she might return with a pistol and ran away. The news of this greatly angered her husband when he heard of it upon his return from out of town several days later.

Murder
At about 12:30 a.m. on August 27, Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, kidnapped Emmett Till from his great-uncle's house in the middle of the night. According to witnesses, they drove him to a weathered shed on a plantation in neighboring Sunflower County, where they brutally beat him. The fan around his neck was to weigh down his body, which they dropped into the Tallahatchie River near Glendora, another small cotton town, north of Money.

Chapter 10
Summary:
Scout doesn't think her father can "do" anything besides be a lawyer - he doesn't do hands-on physical work and he doesn't play football. He's much older than the parents of her peers, which makes it difficult for him to take part in such activities. In addition, Atticus wears glasses because he's nearly blind in one eye. Instead of hunting, he sits and reads inside. Scout is slightly ashamed of her father, because it seems like he can't do anything noteworthy. Atticus tells Scout and Jem they can shoot their air guns at tins cans and bluebirds, but that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Miss Maudie affirms this, saying to Scout, "Your father's right. Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

One day a dog named Tim Johnson appears in the neighborhood, down the street from the Finch house. He looks strange appearance and walks slowly, with a twitch. The children tell Calpurnia, who takes one look at the dog and immediately calls Atticus to tell him that there's a rabid dog in the neighborhood. Next Calpurnia gets the town operator to call everyone in the neighborhood to warn them. She even runs over to the Radley house and yells a warning to them. Atticus and the sheriff, Heck Tate, drive up, and the sheriff gives Atticus the gun. The dog is so close to the Radley house that a stray bullet might go into the building. Atticus reluctantly takes aim and shoots the dog. The dog crumples into a heap. Jem is dumbstruck with the accuracy of his father’s shot. Miss Maudie tells the children that their father used to be known as "One-Shot Finch," the best dead-shot in the county. She says he doesn't shoot unless he has to, because he feels that when he holds a gun, God has given him an unfair advantage over living beings. Scout wants to tell everyone in school about the incident, but Jem tells her not to. Jem explains that he wouldn't care if Atticus "couldn't do a blessed thing," because Atticus is a gentleman.

Analysis:
The rabid dog is a deadly, dangerous menace to the town, and its presence affects everyone in the community, black or white, irrespective of class or personality. Thus, just like the fire, the dog creates a unifying affect over the neighborhood - no one is immune to it, and everyone must take cover together. Later in the book, Atticus uses the court of law in a similar way, making everyone equal, regardless of ethnicity or social stature. In addition, we also learn that even though Atticus does not like to shoot, he is an excellent marksman. Atticus does not brag about his strengths or talents, he simply uses them when necessary. When Atticus holds the gun, the fate of the entire community rests upon his shoulders, a role which will be discussed more in Chapter 24, where Miss Maudie points out that the town depends upon Atticus to uphold truth for them all. Atticus dislikes handling a gun because he believes it gives him an unfair advantage over all living things. However, in the name of public safety, Atticus’s moral code calls for him to protect his family and neighbors and kill the dog. Again, this shows how a law, such as nature's law or even a personal law such as Atticus's avoidance of guns, must sometime be bent toward a higher aim.

Atticus is not the only important figure in the rabid dog crisis. Calpurnia is the first to recognize the serious nature of the situation, and she immediately makes the right phone calls, and runs to warn the neighbors. She protects many from danger, but receives no praise in comparison to Atticus who actually kills the dog. Though Atticus's skill with a gun is remarkable, Calpurnia's swift action and knowledge are invaluable. This is a reflection of how the black community’s assistance to the white community in Maycomb is often unacknowledged.

Atticus's warning about shooting a mockingbird is the first reference to the novel’s title and mockingbird theme. Atticus doesn't want his children to inflict cruelty upon the innocent mockingbirds just because they have the power to, just as he doesn't like to shoot for sport. His warning serves to emphasize the responsibilities that come with power. Those who have power must be careful not to use it cruelly against the innocent and harmless. The powerful must be careful in choosing whom they target. In the trial of the harmless Tom Robinson, the white people in the jury have power over the black man, and choose to exercise their power poorly, declaring him guilty simply because he is black. Here, Tom Robinson is in the same situation as the mockingbird. The mockingbird theme will also appear at the end of the book when Boo rescues Jem and Scout. To avoid making Boo suffer a trial, the sheriff and Atticus agree that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife.

Chapter 9 review

I graded your chapters 4-6 quiz!
Most of you really know your stuff!!! I am very proud of you all.
Today we covered chapter 9.
Here is review for Chapter 8, which we looked at after the quiz last day:

HOMEWORK:

- Read chapter 10 for Tuesday

- Do chapter 9 questions

Chapter 8 Analysis:
This chapter is mainly concerned with the conclusion of the search for Boo Radley, and more narrative than thematic material. The narrative outlines the children’s activities, including sneaking around the Radley house, finding presents left in the tree, discovering the hole has been filled with cement, and watching Miss Maudie's house burn down. While watching the fire, Boo wraps a blanket around Scout, and she doesn’t even notice. Throughout these chapters, Boo is portrayed as a friend to the children and a caretaker of sorts. He looks out for them, giving them thoughtful gifts and making sure they stay warm when stuck out in the cold. Clearly, Boo watches the children, and his actions in these chapters foreshadow his daring rescue later on.

The threat of the fire unites the community as everyone works together to try to overcome it. Even Mr. Radley, who generally does not interact with his neighbors, comes out to help fight the flames. Ironically, Miss Maudie is happy to be forced to have a smaller house because she wants a bigger garden. Miss Maudie loves to spend time outdoors. Throughout the book, the location of people and events inside or outside of houses is highly relevant. In general, those who are usually seen and described as being willfully inside the house: Mrs. Dubose and Aunt Alexandra in particular, are often more corrupted by prejudices of society. The open-minded children run outside constantly, and Dill in particular has no house of his own, making him extremely free. Miss Maudie stays outside a great deal, as does the sheriff, Heck Tate, and both prove to be on the side of all that is good. Those who are forced to stay inside are victims of society's influence, especially Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, who both live within their respective forms of jail for much of the book. Atticus is an exception: the presence of his office gives him a different kind of house to live in, one that is tied into the fabric of society and yet is also outside of it. Atticus very rarely uses his car, and his daily walks back and forth from home to his office demonstrate that he is part of the "outside" world of free thinkers.

Chapter 9
Summary:

A boy at school, Cecil Jacobs, teases Scout, saying that her father “defends niggers”. Scout will not accept insults about her father and fights Cecil. Later, she asks Atticus what the phrase means, and he explains that he has decided to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who lives in a settlement behind the town dump. Atticus says many of the town people think he ought not defend Tom because he is black. Scout asks why he's still doing it if people don’t want him to, and Atticus responds that if he didn't take the case, he wouldn't be able to "hold up my head in town," represent his county in the legislature, or even tell his children what to do. Atticus explains that every lawyer gets at least one case in a lifetime that affects them personally, and that this one is his. He tells Scout to keep her cool no matter what anyone says, and fight with her head, not her hands. Scout asks if he's going to win the case and Atticus says no, but "simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win." He tells her that no matter what happens, the people of Maycomb are still their friends, and this is still their town.

Back at school, Scout works hard not to fight. Uncle Jack comes to stay with them in Maycomb for a week, which Scout enjoys, because he has a good sense of humor, even though he's a doctor. Scout has been trying out swear words on the theory that Atticus won't make her go to school if he finds out she learned them there, but after dinner Uncle Jack tells her not to use them in his presence unless she's in an extremely provoking situation. For Christmas, Jem and Scout both get air rifles and are extremely pleased.

Atticus and the children go Finch's Landing, a large house with a special staircase leading to the rooms of Simon Finch's four daughters that once allowed Finch to keep track of their comings and goings. Scout hates going here, because her Aunt Alexandra always tells her that she should be more ladylike - she should wear dresses and not pants, and that she should play with girls' toys like tea sets and jewelry. Aunt Alexandra hurts Scout's feeling and makes her sit at the little table in the dining room at dinner instead of the grown-up table, where Jem and Francis are sitting. Francis is Aunt Alexandra’s grandson, and Scout calls him "the most boring child I ever met." Talking to Francis gives Scout the feeling of, "settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean." The only good thing about being at the Landing is Aunt Alexandra's excellent cooking.

After dinner, Francis and Scout are outside in the backyard. Francis says that Atticus is a "nigger-lover," and that now Atticus will be the ruination of the family, who won't even be able to walk the streets of Maycomb. Scout patiently awaits her chance, and then punches him squarely in the mouth. Francis screams and everyone comes outside. Francis says Scout called him a "whore-lady" and jumped on him, which Scout does not deny. Uncle Jack tells her not to use that language and pins her when she tries to run away. Scout says that she hates him. Atticus says it's high time they went home.

Back at home, Scout runs to her room to be alone. Uncle Jack comes upstairs to have a talk with her about her language. Scout points out that he doesn't understand children very well, since he never heard her side of the story. Uncle Jack asks her for her side and Scout tells him what Francis said about Atticus. Uncle Jack is very concerned and wants to go talk with Alexandra right away, but Scout pleads with him not to tell Atticus, since she doesn't want him to know that she broke her agreement not to fight anyone over the issue of Tom Robinson's case.

Scout overhears Uncle Jack and Atticus talking. Uncle Jack explains that he doesn't want to have children because he doesn't understand them well enough. Atticus muses that Scout needs to learn to keep her temper under control because in the next few months, there is going to be a lot in store for the family. Jack asks how bad it will be, and Atticus says that it couldn't be worse - the case comes down to a black man's word against the word of the white Ewell family, and the jury couldn't possibly take Tom's word over the word of white people. Atticus just hopes that he can get his children through the ordeal without having them catch "Maycomb's usual disease," when "people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up." Atticus hopes that Jem and Scout will look to him for their answers rather than to the townspeople. Then he calls out Scout's name and tells her to go to bed. She runs back to her room. Years later, the narrator, an aged Scout, explains she eventually came to understand that Atticus wanted her to hear everything he said.

Analysis:

This chapter lays some of the groundwork for the upcoming Tom Robinson trial, which will occupy the remainder of the novel. Atticus knows it will be a difficult time for the children, and though the reader doesn't know anything about the case yet, Atticus already claims that it is hopeless, because the jury simply won't believe a black man's word against a white man's, no matter what the evidence. The trial is thus about more than simply setting a man free - Atticus seems sure that he won't win, but he suggests it will cause a stir in the town that will have major repercussions. The bigotry and racism that have been endemic to Southern society for a hundred years may not be eradicated by this single case, but Atticus will fight anyway to do his small part in working towards equality and to follow his own conscience and set an example for the community. Atticus knows that if he is false in his work as a lawyer, than he cannot be true to his family or friends.

This first introduction of Aunt Alexandra presents her as a dominating and traditional presence with strong opinions about how Scout ought to behave. Her ideas of what a Southern lady should do become a constant reminder for Scout that she is always doing something "wrong." However, Scout is always comforted by knowing the accepting and open-minded Atticus doesn't mind her "too much" the way she is. Scout's behavior constantly flies in the face of traditional Southern female attributes, but the codes that her aunt tries to force on her often seem unreasonable and unjustified since they are based mainly on sheer tradition. Scout can maintain her youthful identity for now, but when Aunt Alexandra moves in with the Finch family during the trial, she will find herself more directly torn between two worlds – her childhood innocence and the ideal behavior of a Southern lady.

These parallel struggles of individual identity against communal tradition – Atticus's preservation of his own morals and Scout's preservation of her own idea of what it means to be a girl – suggest that though Atticus's fight for justice is very difficult and lonely, the process of growing up as a tomboy in the 1930s South could be equally painful and lonely at times, and certainly contributed to Scout's strong character development. Atticus clearly encouraged Scout to be her own kind of girl, both directly and through his personal approach to his own life.

Chapter 7 review TEST NEXT CLASS!

CHAPTERS 4-6 & VOCABULARY QUIZ NEXT CLASS!

We covered Chapter 7 in class today, as well as vocabulary for chapters 4-6.

Here are the Chapters 4-6 words to study for the quiz:
- auspicious


- abominable


- melancholy


- benevolence


- peculiar


- prowess


- ramshackle


- dismemberment


- malignant


- bewilderment

HOMEWORK & READING:
- Read chapter 8 for Thursday
- Do Chapter 7 Questions

Chapter 7
Summary:

Jem is "moody and silent" after the pants incident. The new school year starts, and Scout finds second grade just as boring as first. One day, she and Jem are walking home together when Jem reveals that when he found his pants that night, they were all folded up, and the tears had been crudely sewn up, as if someone knew that he would be coming back for them. He finds this highly eerie. Then, they find a ball of twine in the Radley oak tree knothole. Again, they aren't sure if it is a gift for them or not, so they leave it for a few days. When it remains in the hole for a few days, they take it, and decide that anything left there is okay to take.

Jem is excited about sixth grade, because he is going to learn about ancient Egypt. Jem tells Scout that school will get better for her. One day in October they find two little figures in their secret knothole, a boy and a girl, carved artfully out of soap. Upon closer examination, they realize that the figures are images of themselves. They wonder who could have done it - maybe Mr. Avery, a neighbor who whittles wood. In a couple of weeks, they find a package of chewing gum, an old spelling bee medal, a broken pocket watch on a chain, and an aluminum knife. Jem can't get it the watch to work, but he and Scout decide to write a letter thanking the mystery person who is leaving them these gifts.

They write a note of thanks and leave it in the oak tree. The next day, they are horrified to discover that someone has filled their hole up with cement. They ask Mr. Radley about it, and he claims the tree is dying and filling the knothole with cement will keep it alive. Jem is suspicious, and when he asks Atticus about it, Atticus says the tree looks very healthy, but that Mr. Radley must have a good reason for plugging up the hole. Jem thinks on Atticus’s statement and about who might be leaving the gifts. He stands out on the porch by himself for a long time. When he comes inside, Scout thinks it looks like he has been crying.

Analysis
The oak tree with the knothole is in the Radley yard, and after Mr. Radley fills it up claiming he is trying to save the obviously healthy tree from dying, it becomes fairly clear that B00 Radley has been leaving the presents for the children. In addition, the offerings are sweet, harmless, and clearly quite thoughtful, demonstrating that despite his lack of social skills, he means well and has a generous and perceptive nature. Boo’s gifts also suggest a fondness for children.

Having lost much of his childhood after being kept inside his home at all times, perhaps Boo is nostalgic and lives vicariously through watching Scout and Jem play, live, and grow. Mr. Radley, who plugs up the hole, and all the other adults discourage Boo’s interaction with the children, but Jem feels great sympathy for the man, reflecting the beginning of his passage from childhood to adulthood. When the conversation with Boo ends, so do childish games, and Jem must mature.

Standing alone on the porch, Jem stands on a threshold between indoors and outdoors, between childish freedom and the inside civilized world of adults. In this quiet, reflective, sad moment, we don’t know what Jem is thinking, but perhaps he is mourning the last days of his own childhood as much as the unfair imprisonment of his mysteriously detached new friend, Boo Radley.

Chapter 6 review

In class we talked about the 3 most important plot events for chapter 6.

HOMEWORK:
-Read chapter 7 by next class.
-Finish chapter 6 questions.

READING TO DO THIS WEEK:
Chapter 7 by Tuesday, May 8th
Chapter 8 by Thursday, May 10th

Chapter 6 Summary:

It is Dill's last summer night in Maycomb. Jem and Scout get permission to go sit with him that evening. Dill wants to go for "a walk," but it turns into something more: Jem and Dill want to sneak over to the Radley place and peek into one of their windows. Scout doesn't want them to do it, but Jem accuses her of being girlish, an insult she can't bear, and she goes along with it. They sneak under a wire fence and go through a gate. At the window, Scout and Jem hoist Dill up to peek in the window. Dill sees nothing, only curtains and a small faraway light. The boys want to try a back window instead, despite Scout's pleas to leave. As Jem is raising his head to look in, the shadow of a man appears and crosses over him. As soon as it's gone, the three children run as fast as they can back home, but Jem loses his pants in the gate. As they run, they hear a shotgun sound somewhere behind them.

When they return, Mr. Radley is standing inside his gate, and Atticus is there with various neighbors. They hear that Mr. Radley was shooting at a "white Negro" in his backyard, and has another barrel waiting if he returns. Dill makes up a story about playing strip poker to explain Jem's missing pants, and Jem says they were playing with matches rather than cards, which would be considered unforgivable. Dill says goodbye to them, and Jem and Scout go to bed. Jem decides to go back and get his pants late that night. Scout tries to persuade him that it would be better to get whipped by Atticus than to be shot and killed by Mr. Radley, but Jem insists on going. Jem explains that he's never been whipped by Atticus and doesn't want to be. Jem is gone for a little while, but returns with the pants, trembling.

Analysis:
The children come even closer to bridging the distance between themselves and Boo. Scout is reluctant to participate in these games, but can't stand to be left out, especially on charges of being too "girlish." Later on, Scout learns why Boo likes his privacy and understands why it's important to leave him alone, but for now, she is suspicious of him.

The children's attempts to connect with Boo evoke, again, the sense that children will be able to see Boo with more decency and sincerity than the rest of the populace. Their search through the darkness, the many gates, the vegetables in the yard, and then Dill's glance through the dark window with curtains through which there is one small light are somewhat symbolic of the children's search through layers of ignorance and rumor to find the truth underneath it all. By searching for the man who has been made into a monster by society, they bring back his basic common humanity and unite him with everyone else in spite of his unusual personality.

Likewise, Atticus wants to make it possible for black people to exist on the same plane as whites, no longer subjected to an inhuman subjugation. Color is not insignificant here: Boo Radley is described as very, very white at the end of the book, and Tom is described as being extremely "velvety" dark - they are at opposite ends of the flesh color spectrum but both of these main "mockingbird figures" share the common dilemma of being markedly different from the flesh color considered the norm in Maycomb.

Quiz and chapter 4-5 review

We had our first quiz today on Chapters 1-3

of "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD".

During our second class we did some group work

for chapters 4-5.

READING TO DO:

Chapter 6 > By Monday, May 7th.

Chapter 7 > By Tuesday, May 8th.

Chapter 9 > By Thursday, May 10th.

HOMEWORK:

Chapter questions 4-5 for next class Monday.

Here is a summary for Chapters 4-5:

Chapter 4
Summary:
School continues; the year goes by. Scout doubts that the new educational system is really doing her any good - she finds school boring and wishes the teacher would allow her to read and write, rather than ask the children to do silly activities geared toward "Group Dynamics" and "Good Citizenship."

One afternoon, as she runs past the Radley house, she notices something in the knot-hole of one of the oak trees in the front yard. She investigates further and finds two pieces of chewing gum. Scout is careful, but eventually decides to chew them. Upon learning she is chewing found gum, Jem makes her spit it out. Later, toward the end of the school year, Jem and Scout find two polished Indian-head pennies, good luck tokens, inside the same knothole. The children don’t know if the knothole is someone’s hiding place or if the pennies are a gift, but decide to take them and keep them safely at the bottom of Jem’s trunk.

Dill comes to Maycomb for the summer again, full of stories about train rides and his father, whom he claims to have finally seen. The three try to start a few games, but quickly get bored. Jem rolls Scout inside an old tire, but he pushes so hard that it ends up in the Radley’s yard. Terrified, Scout runs back home, but leaves the tire behind. Jem has to run into the yard and retrieve the tire. Dill thinks Boo Radley died and Jem says they stuffed his body up the chimney. Scout thinks maybe he's still alive. They invent a new game about Boo Radley. Jem plays Boo, Dill plays Mr. Radley, and Scout plays Mrs. Radley. They polish it up over the summer into a little dramatic reenactment of all the gossip they've heard about Boo and his family, including a scene using Calpurnia's scissors as a prop.

One day Atticus catches them playing the game and asks them if it has anything to do with the Radley family. They deny it, and Atticus replies, "I hope it doesn't." Atticus's sternness forces them to stop playing, and Scout is relieved because she's worried for another reason: she thought she heard the sound of someone laughing inside the Radley house when her tire rolled into their yard.

Analysis:
The schools have attempted to teach children how to behave in groups and how to be upstanding citizens, but Scout notes that her father and Jem learned these traits without the kind of schooling she is getting. The school may be attempting to turn the children into moral beings, but Scout's moral education occurs almost exclusively in her home or in the presence of Maycomb adults and friends. This suggests that schools can only provide limited change in children's moral sensibility, or no change at all - families and communities are the true sculptors of children's sense of what is right and good, and what is not.

Accepting gifts in the Radley tree knothole and rolling accidentally into the Radley yard are some of the first signs that the children are slowly coming closer to making contact with Boo. They're still terrified, however, by the mystery of Boo. Their curiosity and the drama game they create shows how desperately they wanted to find answers to their questions about Boo in the absence of any real information or knowledge. Likewise, the townspeople have a tendency to react unfavorably to things that are "different" until they have reasons to understand the difference. In addition, the children are gradually humanizing Boo - he was referred to in the opening chapter as a "malevolent phantom," but by now, he is a real man whose antisocial behavior marks him as unusual and therefore suspicious or dangerous.

Chapter 5
Summary:
Jem and Dill have become closer friends, and Scout, being a girl, finds herself often excluded from their play. Dill, in childish fashion, has decided to get engaged to Scout, but now he and Jem play together often and Scout finds herself unwelcome.

Instead of playing with the boys, Scout often sits with their neighbor, the avid gardener Miss Maudie Atkinson, watches the sun set on her front steps, or partakes of Miss Maudie's fine homemade cake. Miss Maudie is honest in her speech and her ways, with a witty tongue, and Scout considers her a trusted friend. Scout asks her one day about Boo Radley, and Miss Maudie says that he's still alive, he just doesn't like to come outside. She also says that most of the rumors about him aren't true. Miss Maudie explains that the Radleys are foot-washing Baptists - they believe all pleasure is a sin against God, and stay inside most of the time reading the Bible. She says that Arthur was a nice boy when she used to know him.

The next day, Jem and Dill hatch a plan to leave a note for Boo in the Radley’s window, using a fishing line. The note will ask him to come out sometimes and tell them what he's doing inside, and that they won't hurt him and will buy him ice cream. Dill says he wants Boo to come out and sit with them for a while, as it might make the man feel better. Dill and Scout keep watch in case anyone comes along, and Jem tries to deliver the note with the fishing pole, but finds that it's harder to maneuver than he expected. As he struggles, Atticus arrives and catches them all. He tells them to stop tormenting Boo, and lectures them about how Boo has a right to his privacy, and that they shouldn't go near the house unless they're invited. He accuses them of putting Boo's life history on display for the edification of the neighborhood. Jem says that he didn't say they were doing that, and thus inadvertently admits that they were doing just that. Atticus caught him with "the oldest lawyer's trick on record."

Analysis:
Though Atticus tries to encourage the children to leave Boo alone, their senses of sympathy have been summoned by thinking about Boo's solitude and his strict upbringing. Though still frightened of him, they wish to befriend him and help him now. Miss Maudie's description of Boo helps the children understand him as a victim of his upbringing.

Miss Maudie is one of the only women that Scout respects and is friendly with. Calpurnia and Miss Maudie are the main motherly influences in her life. Later on, while Aunt Alexandra imposes herself as a maternal substitute, trying to turn Scout into a "lady" against her will. Miss Maudie is the most unbiased and supportive of these three women, though Calpurnia becomes much more sympathetic as time goes by. Miss Maudie is obsessed with her flowerbeds, and goes about tending them despite disapproval of the "foot-washing Baptists," who occasionally accuse her of spending too much time in such vain earthly pursuits. Miss Maudie is opposed to these staunch, strict ideas but is also religious, showing that perhaps she finds a relationship between maintaining beautiful things in the world and connecting with God. Just as in the case of the Ewells hunting out of season, some things are more important than following the letter of the law exactly.

The very religious Radley family stays indoors all day and rarely participates in community affairs, except during emergencies. However, Miss Maudie seems to think that serving living things - whether human or floral - is an important part of serving God. There is no one clear way to worship God, but the chapter suggests that reading the Bible inside all day may be an application of God's law which, like the hunting law when applied to the Ewell's, becomes self-defeating if applied too severely. In both cases, the maintaining of life (Mr. Ewell's children or Miss Maudie's flowers) is more important than observing the strictest codes. Miss Maudie also believes in the importance of pleasure and the enjoyment of life.