Today we had two periods. In our first period we watched a CNN report about Vidor, Texas.
We then worked on Chapters 13-15 Vocabulary.
In our second class we talked about the top 3 events for chapter 18, and then we played a "Question & Answer" game.
Homework:
-Study for the book quiz on chapters 13-15
-Study for vocabulary quiz for chapters 13-15
-Chapter 18 questions
-Read chapter 19ABOUT VIDOR:
Vidor is a small city of about 11,000 people near the Texas Gulf Coast, not too far from the Louisiana border. Despite the fact that Beaumont, a much bigger city just 10 minutes away, is quite integrated, Vidor is not. There are very few blacks there; it's mostly white. That is in large part because of a history of racism in Vidor, a past that continues to haunt the present.
"We've been trying to live down something for 40 to 50 years," said Orange County Commissioner Beamon Minton. "Once convicted, you're a convicted felon. You can't ever put that aside."
"We've been trying to live down something for 40 to 50 years," said Orange County Commissioner Beamon Minton. "Once convicted, you're a convicted felon. You can't ever put that aside."
Vidor was one of hundreds of communities in America known as "sundown towns," places where blacks were not welcome after dark. In some of these towns, signs -- handwritten or printed -- were posted, saying things like "Whites Only After Dark." But in general, sundown towns existed by reputation. Blacks knew they were places to avoid after dark.
Charles Jones is a 62-year-old African-American man who lives in Beaumont. He told us when he was 19, he and three of his black friends were changing a flat tire on their broken down car in Vidor one night. A white policeman stopped.
"He said, 'Well, let me tell ya -- you boys better wrap and get out of here, because I'm going to go to that next exit and come back around. You better be gone!' " Jones recalled.
Vidor also had a reputation as a haven for the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, Jones recalls seeing a Klan rally in Vidor when he was a child. Vidor city officials point that that doesn't mean the rally was filled with Vidor residents. They say the Klan brought members from all over and targeted Vidor for rallies.
Chapter 18
Summary:
It's now Mayella's turn to be a witness. She is very distraught and cries in the witness stand, saying that she is afraid of Atticus. She finally tells Mr. Gilmer that her father asked her to chop up an old chiffarobe (chest of drawers) for kindling, but she didn't feel strong enough. When Tom Robinson walked by, she asked him to do it for a nickel. She claims that she went inside for the money, and Tom followed her, pushed her to the floor, and took advantage of her while she screamed and tried to fight back. Then, her father arrived and Tom ran away. After Mr. Gilmer has allowed Mayella to tell her story, it is Atticus's turn.
Summary:
It's now Mayella's turn to be a witness. She is very distraught and cries in the witness stand, saying that she is afraid of Atticus. She finally tells Mr. Gilmer that her father asked her to chop up an old chiffarobe (chest of drawers) for kindling, but she didn't feel strong enough. When Tom Robinson walked by, she asked him to do it for a nickel. She claims that she went inside for the money, and Tom followed her, pushed her to the floor, and took advantage of her while she screamed and tried to fight back. Then, her father arrived and Tom ran away. After Mr. Gilmer has allowed Mayella to tell her story, it is Atticus's turn.
Atticus questions Mayella, but first asks her some background questions to show the jury what kind of family she comes from. At first, Mayella takes exception to Atticus calling her “Miss Mayella,” and the judge has to explain that Atticus is imply being polite. He treats everyone on the stand with the same respect, no matter who they are or where they come from. In her cross-examination, we learn Mayella is nineteen and her family receives relief checks, but there isn't enough food to go around; her father seems to be a drunkard. Mayella went to school for a few years but none of her eight siblings go, and their mother is dead. Mayella doesn't seem to have any friends. Atticus asks if Mr. Ewell is a loving father, and with hesitation, Mayella says that he is "tolerable" except when he has been drinking. However, she insists that he never lays a hand on her or beats her. Atticus asks if this was the first time Tom Robinson has been invited into her house, and she jumps a little before she says that it was the first time. He asks Mayella if she remembers being beaten in the face, and Mayella first says no, but then yes. Atticus asks her to identify the man who raped her, and Mayella points to Tom, who Atticus asks to stand. Everyone in the courtroom notices that Tom's left arm is twelve inches shorter than his right, due to an accident in his youth when the arm got stuck a cotton gin. Atticus asks for more details about the struggle, then he asks many questions which Mayella doesn't answer: Why didn't the other children hear her screaming? Where were they? Why didn't they come running? Did she start screaming when she saw her father in the window? Did she get beaten up by her father, not Tom Robinson?
Mayella just says that she was taken advantage of, and if the upper class gentlemen won't prosecute Tom, they are cowards. Atticus appears to have found his exchange with the young woman distasteful. The court rests for ten minutes, but no one leaves the courthouse
Analysis:
In this chapter, we learn that Mayella's life is one of miserable poverty and deprivation. She shows she is accustomed to being treated without respect when she thinks Atticus is deliberately mocking her by calling her "Miss." She seems hopelessly immature for nineteen years old and her whiney or tearful attitude suggests a subtle sly manipulation of her audience, as if on some level she wants to capitalize off of whatever pity she can invoke for her social state and extend it toward her fictionalized state as a supposed rape victim. She also appears quite afraid of Atticus. There is good in Mayella, her flowers are the only beautiful thing at the Ewell residence, and Scout thinks that Mayella seems to make an effort to keep herself clean, but her actions seem motivated by cowardice. She is initially reluctant to say Tom's name when asked to name her rapist, but she does surrender to fear and accuse him, thus putting her fear of public humiliation over the value of his life.
In this chapter, we learn that Mayella's life is one of miserable poverty and deprivation. She shows she is accustomed to being treated without respect when she thinks Atticus is deliberately mocking her by calling her "Miss." She seems hopelessly immature for nineteen years old and her whiney or tearful attitude suggests a subtle sly manipulation of her audience, as if on some level she wants to capitalize off of whatever pity she can invoke for her social state and extend it toward her fictionalized state as a supposed rape victim. She also appears quite afraid of Atticus. There is good in Mayella, her flowers are the only beautiful thing at the Ewell residence, and Scout thinks that Mayella seems to make an effort to keep herself clean, but her actions seem motivated by cowardice. She is initially reluctant to say Tom's name when asked to name her rapist, but she does surrender to fear and accuse him, thus putting her fear of public humiliation over the value of his life.
Scout and Jem listen intently to everything that is said in the courtroom. Here, Scout and Jem watch their father in action. He shows himself to be a highly respectful man, and he carefully and deliberately outlines each piece of evidence. Atticus never shows disapproval of either Mr. Ewell or Mayella, and is kind and courteous, despite insults he receives. This chapter builds the trial's suspense quite significantly, as the reader begins to understand Atticus's situation. He knows that Tom Robinson is innocent and it seems that Mr. Ewell is most likely to blame for Mayella's injuries. Clearly, more will soon be revealed.
