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.