The most important scene in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is at the end of chapter six and the beginning of chapter seven.Jem and Dill obey Atticus until Dill’s last day in Maycomb for the summer. He and Jem plan to sneak over to the Radley house and look in through a loose shutter, with Scout accompanying them. Suddenly they see a shadow of a man and flee, hearing a shotgun go off behind them. They escape under the fence by the schoolyard, but Jem’s pants get caught on the fence and he has to kick them off in order to get free. Harper Lee adds this scene to the story to add to our understanding of Boo Radley’s character. jem has to return to the Radley place, so as to not arouse suspicion when he cannot produce his missing pants.
* Dill and scout tell jem they’re going to give a letter to boo radley through his shutters telling him to come out to meet them
Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (page 374). There are many themes in this book, but this one stuck out more than any of them. Both Jem and Scout almost, in a way, matured over this theme. This theme also stuck out to me because it was a lesson, that
The intriguing novel, To Kill A Mockingbird is written by the prestigious author Harper Lee. Lee has utilised the lifestyle and attitudes towards African-Americans" in the 1930's to create a novel which presents the reader with Lee's attitudes and values. The dominant reading of the novel is focused on the issues of racial prejudice, but there are also a number of other alternative and oppositional readings. Examples of this are the Marxist and feminist readings which can be applied to the text.
Lee implies that people learn lessons through life experiences that school can ever teach. Throughout this novel, Atticus taught his kids many lessons that was hard for them to hear at times, but it later on helped them in the story. Or it helped them grow up and mature. On page 40 of To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus was explaining to Scout that Miss.Caroline was new and didn’t know anyone, and she especially didn’t know the Cunningham’s story, Atticus states, “Atticus said… but if Walter and I had put ourselves in her shoes we’d have seen it was an honest mistake on her part” (40). This quote by Atticus is meant to explain to Scout that Miss. Caroline just made an honest human mistake. He tried to get Scout to realize that if he put herself in Miss.Caroline’s shoes then she might better understand the confusion. Obviously you can’t really be in her shoes, but he said it figuratively to show her why it was important to give her another chance, or at least try to be nice and listen. Atticus taught this to Scout at home later on that night. At her school after that she tried to just get by in her class. Lee also shows mainly throughout that the school system doesn’t help when it comes to teaching children life lessons. As shown in the earlier quote Atticus, had told Scout to jump in Walter’s shoes, and walk around in it. This other quote shows how Scout actually takes into consideration of Atticus’ words, and chooses to not bother Jem because she tried to imagine what it had
As the famous American author, Nerburn, says,“It is much easier to become a father than to be one”(http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/fathers-quotes). Nerburn writes about how hard it is to be an eligible father .He proposes the question, “Do people think their father is the person who is able to provide them a lot of guidance or help? In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem and Scout live with their father, Atticus, who is a lawyer, and regard him as an excellent example. However, Scout and Jem don’t value Atticus as a father with full diligence because he is elder than most of other students’ father and he is not able to do any sports. Due to the accident with the mad dog, atticus’s educations and the case of Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout come to understand, respect, and finally admire their father.
The ambition of oneself to pursue justice and righteousness may result in prosecution. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, and movie "A Time to Kill" by Joel Schumacher, each demonstrate one’s open-mindedness and forward thinking leads to penalization through protagonists Atticus Finch and Jake Brigance. Both egalitarians take the position as an attorney for an African American and are prosecuted in the process.
The black characters act justly throughout the novel by treating every one with equality and respect. In Chapter 12, when Jem and Scout visit Calpurnia’s Negro church for the Sunday service, Lula, a hostile Negro woman tells them impolitely to leave. Calpurnia defends the children and contradicts Lula by saying, “It’s the same God, ain’t it?” Amidst an argument over the antagonistic rifts between black and white regimes, Calpurnia acknowledges that all people, no matter the race, worship the same God, and are therefore equal. During Chapter 12, after the church service, Reverend Sykes takes up an extra collection of money that is collected towards Tom Robinson's wife, who has not been able to find work since her husband is sent to jail since he allegedly rapes a white woman. Reverend Sykes tells the attendees of the service, “I want all of you with no children to make a sacrifice and give one more dime a piece.” The Revenant shows justice by being equal and respectful towards everyone. In order to be fair he asks those who don’t have a family to feed and shelter to donate an extra dime, and not forcing those who have a family to donate extra money. During his testimony in Chapter 19, Tom Robinson states a different story than that of Mayalla’s; he is then questioned on whether he is accusing Mayella of being a liar. Tom refuses to accuse Mayella of lying, but persistently says that she is "mistaken in her mind." This shows Tom’s unrelenting respect and honest living; even though Mayella is unjust to him, he continues to treat her with justice and respect because he knows that she is just a little girl who is lonely and even though she sent him
Jem's definition of valor changes as he matures; he gains insight in the world. At the beginning of the novel, he only thinks of bravery as simply touching the Radley’s house, because "in all his life, [he] had never declined a dare”(Lee 13). Jem is quite intrigued and curious about Boo’s life throughout the novel and often finds himself risking everything just to get a better understanding of the complex character. At first, like any young boy, Jem tends to judge a book by its cover, but after months of growing into an understanding young man, he comes to the realization that Boo is not the monster everyone thinks he is. Jem comes to the conclusion that maybe Boo is just as scared of what's outside as the kids are of whats inside the Radley house; “Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside”( Lee 227). Also throughout the trial, Jem shows his interest in the Tom Robinson case. He feels sympathy for the Robinson family and grows to truly understand the extent of how wrong it was for Tom to be found guilty. He shows a lot of emotion when he cries after the verdict was revealed, "It was Jem's turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. It ain't right,' he muttered It ain't right, Atticus,' said Jem. No son, it's
In chapter 11 Walter didn’t want to work at the garment center. Walter had wanted to be a lawyer at the age nine. Walter would simply memorize a passage and recited it. A coach had asked Walter to come for track his junior year. In chapter 12 Walter missed three weeks of school. Walter lusted three weeks before he stopped going to school again. In chapter 10 the idea of what it meant to be poor changed in the late sixties. Most of Walter life had been divided between school, reading, and ball playing. The second burden of that summer came in the form of Walter grandfather. William Dean was a tall, ramrod-straight man with mannerisms that seemed more appropriate for the nineteenth century than for 1951. After the civil war the former
From the beginning to the end of the book, Jem transformed from Scout’s playmate and older brother to a person whom she looked up to and followed. Jem learns a great deal throughout the events of the novel, just like Scout. During the trial, Jem is extremely enthusiastic and believed that there is no way they could possibly lose. Jem’s confidence is seen when he talks to the Reverend and says “don’t fret, we’ve won it… don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard” (208). When the guilty verdict came back, Jem is distraught: “His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered” (212). This is the first time Jem truly sees racism. His eyes are opened to the more depraved side of Maycomb and because of this, he is no longer as innocent as before and he no longer only sees the good in others. After seeing how harsh the real world can be, Jem has a slightly different outlook towards Boo Radley, and says to Scout, “I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside” (227). Jem and Scout mature a great amount through the span of three years in which the novel takes place over, and this can also be seen in the conflicts that they face and their reactions to
One day during the summer the three of them went to the Radley lot and tried to enter into the house quietly but Jem gets his pants caught and the fence and they rip off of his body. (pg. 72) Later that night Jem goes out at 2 in the morning to go retrieve his pants but to his surprise they were all stitched up and fixed. (pg. 78) After school when Jem and Scout were passing by the Radley lot in the big Oak tree they saw grey twine, like the kind that had been used to sew up Jems’ shorts. (pg.78) Scout and Jem are thinking that this grown man is leaving gifts out in his front yard for them because Boo wants to become friends with them. By the end of the book Boo Radley isn’t just a superstition to Scout anymore, Boo Radley becomes a real human to Scout and she has developed from an innocent little girl to a sympathetic and understanding human being. Boo Radley is also a symbol for the good in all people. Boo Radley saw that Jem’s pants were in need of a fix and he fixed them up for him, (pg. 78) when Mrs. Maudie's house was on fire and Scout was standing out in the cold she thinks that Boo Radley is the one that put the blanket over her to keep her warm, and at the end of book Boo Radley kills Bob Ewell because Bob wants to hurt the
To Kill a Mockingbird, a beautiful coming-of-age novel written by Harper Lee, follows the moral development of young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. At the beginning of the novel, Scout, her brother Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch, and their friend Charles Baker “Dill” Harris taunt their mysterious neighbor, Arthur “Boo” Radley. The story follows a Southern Gothic style, in which the monster is Boo Radley; the victims are Scout, Jem, and Dill; and the hero Atticus Finch. The children view Boo Radley as an insane madman who guiltlessly stabbed his father. However, their view of Radley begins to change once they receive gifts in the knothole of the Radley House tree.
Dill comes back and ends up getting into trouble with the kids by creating a play mocking Boo and writing a letter to him suggesting that he should come out. Meanwhile, Scout gets left out and bored. Ergo, she begins spending time with the lovely Mrs. Maudie and during one of their conversations the truth about Boo Radley comes out about him being raised in a family who believes strongly in Baptism. Then, there is the incident where Jem lost his pants while escaping from the Radley Place and retrieved them while finding out that Boo sewed the ripped parts of his pants. From that point on, Boo is stopped being viewed as a horrendous beast, but rather as a human who wished to be uninvolved with the outside.
The chapters 1 and 2 of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the story begins at the beginning of summer, with the introduction of Scout and Jem two kids trying to enjoy to dog-days of summer in the plain and simple town of Maycomb. Their summer stays this way until they meet a boy by the name of Dill; Dill, Scout, and Jim play together by reenacting scenes from famous movies like Dracula. But when Dill hears about the legend of the Radley’s and there abandon estate, he becomes entranced with the Radley’s and wants to find out what really happened to Boo Radley. His interest in the Radley’s goes to such an extent that he dares Jem to get Boo Radley to leave his house by going on his property. After the deed was done summer winds down to an end as Dill leaves for Meridian, bored with nothing to look forward in summer Scout realizes that school is going to start. Jem starts to distance himself from Scout saying “Jem was careful to explain that during the school hour I was not to bother him”. Scouts starts to realize that school is different as she is punished for speaking out of turn and trying to explain why Walter cannot accept money from Miss Caroline. She takes this as an insult against Walter and punishes her, as it turns out school is a lot different than home.
The story, in the eyes of two innocent children Scout and her brother Jem, of the discrimination and hypocrisy throughout the town. Maycomb County, Alabama, faces an African American’s injustice while the children learn valuable lessons from their father, Atticus and their housemaid Calpurnia, during the Great Depression. All the while, we are learning from it. To Kill a Mockingbird teaches us the lessons of morale, justice and equality.