Boo-log Lives Next Door

What is wrong with the fact that in confusion, Boo Radley draped a blanket over Scout? Why does Scout have to have such shame? The only things we have heard about Boo Radley are hard rumors. These kids have no hard evidence that Boo Radley is a bad person. Even Miss Maudie claims that Boo Radley was a nice person. The only things these kids can rely on are rumors that have slowly changed over the years. I did not like Scout’s reaction by almost vomiting about the appearance of Boo Radley behind her. Why incriminate a guy who these have never met before. They do not know about his personality and his good qualities. Snow day in Maycomb was unexpected. This is a town in the South that never gets snow. I thought it was pretty funny how they did not even get that much to build a snow man or make snow angels, but they still attempted. That shows how rare snow can be in some places of the world. If someone is not used to something, and they get a little bit of it, they will try to make use of it as if they got plenty of it. Scout tried to make a snowman even when there was barely any snow.

I think it is ridiculous that Ms. Caroline is discouraging scout not to read. Does she think it is better for scout? Teachers are supposed to teach not… encourage them to be uneducated. If I were Scout I would read even more just to make Ms. Caroline angry. What kind of teacher does she thinks she is? What surprises me is the fact that the higher authorities do not know about this. I do not like how Scout’s only offensive was to go complain to her brother, and I don’t think his response really helped. I mean, how does a new teaching method cover up the fact that she is telling a child to uneducated herself. A teaching method is meant for someone to effectively input information properly into someone else’s brain. I have never heard of a teaching method where information is encouraged to be taken out of the brain. Ms. Caroline is not a very good teacher so far. After the incident with the Cunningham, when scout tried to tell Ms. Caroline about how he will not take anything that he can not pay back, Ms. Caroline (of coarse) did not understand the Cunningham’s stance and hit Scout with a ruler.

Life is crazy, isn’t it? After all, just by growing up, people’s perspective of the world starts to change. When we’re kids, we sort out the world into two types of people: good and bad. And how we differentiate between the two is good = the people that follows what our parents teach us, and bad = the people who don’t. But that gets shattered as we get older and we experience more. Like Jem, we start to lose that innocent look at life. Jem, who is just a kid, sees how different the world is when they become “bad”. To him, the entirety of Maycomb County is now cruel and evil. They’ve done the unspeakable; they have sent an innocent man to jail and to be later strapped to a chair and electricuted. However, let’s pretend we are some average Maycomb citizen… let’s be Stephanie Crawford. To us (as Stephanie Crawford), this is a rightful sentence for a black man that has been accused and convicted of raping a white woman. Look at how split people are when it comes to topics like abortion or capital punishment. Every person gets set on their own belief system, and whoever tries to defy our belief system suddenly becomes bad. We can’t really classify anyone as all bad, we end up learning. Jem’s just getting the scrape of how life really is. Now he knows that not everyone is a good, perfect person.

Reality is harsh and cruel. We end up changing our thoughts of what is good and what is bad. We learn how people and life really is; and it definitely isn’t all rainbows and gummy bears. Hey, Jem and everyone that reads this, welcome to reality.

These chapters were outrageous compared to the passed chapters. It is enough that Mr. Tom Robinson is a hated man because he is black. It is enough that he was frames for “raping” Mayella Ewell. It is enough that, Bob Ewell was the one who is supposed to be sued, not Mr. Tom Robinson. It is enough that blacks were discriminated and convicted of crime, just because of their color. It is not fair, how Atticus Finch, prepared and laid out valid and well supported arguments during the trial. Why would the jury or the judge, have the verdict of placing Mr. Tom Robinson as a guilty criminal man? They have the heart as hard like a stone. Not only did they convict him guilty, they murdered him?! I believe that it is unreasonable to shoot someone seventeen times because they ran away. Everyone knows that Tom Robinson is an innocent man, and if he ran away at least shoot only once, but seventeen times?! It’s like a Tom Robinson was a dangerous criminal that had to be stopped with seventeen bullets and cause him his life. When I was reading this I just wanted to beat up the person that shot Mr. Tom Robinson. It is just unfair for him and his family. Bob Ewell and Mayella Ewell, should be held personally responsible for his death.   

From these chapters, the main thing that readers wanted to know was, of course, the results of Tom Robinson’s case. I somehow expected the results would end up like this, a white man defeating a black man. That is the outcome of all the other trials that involve African Americans in Maycomb. There has never been one case that favored the black man instead of the white man. Atticus fought for Tom Robinson strongly and gave it his all throughout the case. Trying to save a black man shows Atticus’s bravery and determination. Most people today think that black and white people should be given the same rights and should be treated similarly.  We have to consider that this book took place during the Great Depression, and that most people didn’t care for African Americans then. From the responses given from the two sides, one would be positive that Tom Robinson’s explanation was more believable and had a greater chance of winning than Mr. Ewell’s. I’m glad that the world has changed for the better, from the Great Depression to today. People treat African Americans with respect these days, and I’m sure that most people do not judge them by their skin color. There might be some still out there favoring one race over the other, but most have changed, which is extraordinary to know.

I have seen plenty of posts all about Atticus. After all, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is one of the characters that truly personifies the book; he’s a kind gentlemen that chooses not to discriminate blacks and whites. The fact that Atticus treats colored people with the same respect as whites is already an amazing trait in a novel that takes place during the time of the Great Depression, especially in the South. Then we also know that Atticus is a great shot, “One-Shot Finch”, and an excellent father to Scout and Jem. And in these chapters, we learn what an amazing lawyer Atticus really is. As Heck Tate is being examined by Atticus, Atticus takes great notice to what the officer says. Something so irrelevant as the fact that the right side of Mayella Ewell’s face was the side primarily injured suddenly turns into an important fact that a left-handed person would have had to create most of her facial injuries. By remembering that fact, Atticus leads to the conclusion that Bob Ewell, a left-handed man, may have been the one to inflict the injuries, not Tom Robinson, a right-handed person. He uses his intelligence to his advantage; when he interviews Mayella, he gains information by first starting off simple and finally attacking the nineteen-year-old with questions. Can anyone honestly say, especially at Atticus’ age, that they could remember such small details or evaluate a situation so accurately as to get vital information to show some prospect at winning an unwinnable case? It is no doubt that Atticus Finch is a great man, and hopefully, the evidence Atticus thoughtfully presented will win Tom Robinson’s case.

While reading chapters seventeen through twenty, I felt most of the case revolved around Tom Robinson being a Negro. The Ewells probably picked on him because they knew white people were in favor of winning than black people. I completely agree with what Atticus said at the end of the trial. No one gets to choose what his or her skin color is. We were all born into a family, whether black or white, without selecting a specific skin color. It isn’t Tom Robinson’s fault that he is black. Why should he be treated differently? It’s not like it was his fault that God made him African American. Everybody is born equally and should all have the same rights. I was very digusted, like Dill, to hear that Tom Robinson is being spoken to differently from white people. I think Atticus is sure to win the case. I could easily tell Mayella and Mr. Ewell were lying and that Tom Robinson told nothing but the truth. While Mayella became confused and frustrated at the questions, Tom Robinson responded to every question without hesistation or regret. The thing that surprised me was that Tom was referring to himself as a nigger. Today, African Americans do not call themselves niggers because they know their rights are as equal as white people’s. It’s a good thing that African Americans are treated much better than they were in the past.

This court case was intense and very eye catching. It was a good case, and for sure in my point of view that Atticus and Mr. Robinson should win this case. For in fact and proven, that Mr. Robinson is an innocent black man that was unfortunate. Atticus had wonderful and valid evidences and support for his claims that Mr. Robinson was innocent. It is disappointing that Mayella would do such a thing to a married man. She is just 19 years old and she’s “hitting” on this Mr. Robinson. That is totally inappropriate and not a lady like gesture. In addition what I hate about the lie that Mayella told the court is that Mr. Tom Robinson raped her, when in fact, she knew she didn’t. The nerve of people is so big! While I was reading this, I felt like entering the book, and start slapping Mayella and Mr. Bob Ewell to wake them up. If Mayella was a smart young girl, she would have revealed the abuse that she receives from Mr. Bob Ewell. It just makes me mad that there are people in this world that can live like this. Also, Mayella is just crying crocodile tears, and that just makes me want to knock some senses in her head.

A happy family is what everyone wants. To be a complete blood related family, there is a father, a mother, and children. For the Finches, they only have Atticus (their father). Scout and Jem don’t have a mother to brag about or anything because she died at their early age. However, this doesn’t give the right for Aunt Alexandra to take over and acts like their mother. Even if she is the sister of their father, she has no right to go to their home and change their lives that quickly. Also, since she is not the mother of the two, she should learn to accept who these kids are, not try to change them because their personality of character doesn’t fit her standards. She is just an auntie, she is not the mother. She claims that she is just helping, but it doesn’t seem that way to me. If feels like while I was reading, that she was taking over the way they live. In addition I don’t see the point of why Aunt Alexandra should be living with them after all these years. They have Calpurnia who is their beloved maid. These two kids were doing just ok without Aunt Alexandra.

When Scout passed her bed to turn on the light, she stepped on something warm. That something was actually Dill. Jem and Scout were both amazed and wordless. Dill tells her and Jem about how he got to Maycomb from Meridian. He says he got to their house on thirteen dollars. I personally find that very hard to believe. How can a boy as young as Dill travel ten or eleven miles on foot? He must’ve a lot of courage and determination to come this far. I find it strange that Dill came to Jem and Scout when he needed help. I think Jem and Scout are his only friends that he can truly depend on. Also, when it came to bedtime, Dill went to Scout’s bed instead of Jem’s bed like he was supposed to. I think he really cares about Scout. If I was in Dill’s position, I would never have the urge or determination to run away from my parents, no matter how bad they treat me. I would just suck it up. I don’t believe I have as much courage as Dill. I was actually very satisfied with Atticus’s response to Dill’s appearance. He was very understanding and caring toward Dill and Scout’s emotions. I believe Atticus was very nice when he didn’t force Dill to go back to his house.  It is too bad Atticus has that case to worry about..