Chloe+Peter

 Ok, so in the old book on page 30 the author talked about how Miss Caroline was probably  didn't know she was making Scout feel bad, and was just trying to do her job the way she learned how to do it. that made me think about how in our world many people often get offended when someone doesn't act in a way that makes others comfortable. this also applys to when they bring Walter Cunningham home for lunch, and he pours molasses over everything on his plate. Scout gets angry and yells. i think this is common, people feel uncomfortable when they experiance new things, sometimes. they're unfamiliar to it so sometimes it's out of their comfort zone. I agree with how people can feel uncomfortable with differences. But is this involved with Boo Radley? i mean why are they all so afraid of him? just because he never left his house. why do they hate and fear him? is he creepy and walk around at night staring into peoples windows or what?

It is involved with Boo Radley, actually. they fear him because he's different, becasue he never comes out of his house. they make up horrible gossip and stories to cushion their fear for him, to make it seem like they're not so afraid. i don't believe he does any of the things that Miss Stephanie Crawford of the book or anyone else says he does. i think he is just a regular man, with a few differences. the boys and scout play their games and ask questions about him because they are curious, and i think that when they try to give him the note it proves it. they are children, young and naive, and children don't think about things like fear as much as adults, i believe. they were just trying to be nice to him, but at the same time they are a bit scared because that's what the people of the neighborhood tell them to be. they need to be influenced more by their father and Miss Maudie because then they wouldn't be as scared and they would feel more compassion towards him. this starts to happen more towards the end of our reading for the other night, with Miss Maudie and Atticus and such.

I did notice that Miss Maudie didnt seem that afraid to talk about him. Boo reminds me of Voldemort every thing he touches and does makes him all the more evil. the difference was that Boo never murdered hundreds of people he just swore allot and acted "gangster". why is difference that big of a deal to every single person? lets all just calm down and except people for who they are.


 * Chloe & Peter -- good start. Remember to find a way to label your different contributions (Chloe -- / Peter -- works). If I'm recognizing things correctly, based on my knowledge of your writing, I'd say Chloe's doing a nice job of bringing in page number references and demonstrating a good, close reading of the book. Peter, you are a great reader, but your contributions here are too general and don't demonstrate to me that you are reading the book carefully OR Chloe's contributions: she is saying Boo isn't to be feared, and you are saying everything he touches makes him all the more evil. I'd like to see you work on that skill of keeping close to the reading and being specific in your writing. I think you two are going to have some great chats. -- Ms. C. **

2-23-09 While i was reading the last few chapters i noticed that they don't mention dill very much, and when they do they mock him and tell lies. they tell Scout that he is a tramp and that he just gets passed around from family member to family member (p.94). are his parents dead? what is the deal with him? why do the Finch's act like he has some sort of disease? what did he do to deserve all of this angry monkey business? --Peter

Chapters 6-10: i don't think Dill deserves this, but that annoying little Francis boy is just trying to get a rise out of Scout. he's provoking her and she tries to resist it, though she slips and hit him (pg. 84 TOB) these are things (about Dill) that i think are true, but the family doesn't want to tell Jem and scout because they're such good friends with Dill. i remember being little and hearing my parents talking (pg. 87, 88, 89) and hearing things i wished i hadn't, wondering things that i knew i could never ask. Scout experiancing that now, i think. Harper Lee is trying to introduce the idea of Scout losing a bit of her innocence, i think. But i have to admit there is a naive feeling that i get, remembering how Scout thought they were going to get married to Dill, very non-nonchalant. I think that all small girls go through that phase, and also i think that Scout is trying to fight the fact that she is a girl. She has grown up mostly with and around men so it's hard for her to come to terms with the fact that many people don't always think she's the nicest young lady when she swears and is running around with an air rifle. i do not think that the Finchs are a family of the time, and i think this because they are too compassionate, they have a huge strong bond, and also a unique bond that not many people have, and also Atticus keeps the children pretty in the dark in many regards to innocence and the perils of the world. -Chloe

11-17: okay, so in the last few chapters the trial involving tom robinson's rape charge has come up alot, more than a lot but it's basically all the characters in the book talk about. In chapter 16 on page 160- 161 TOB Jem is describing Mr. Dolphus Raymond's unique situation involving the colored woman he's married to and all or their mixed children. when he points one out and Scout says that he doesn't look mixed but fully colored, a interesting topic arises. Jem makes the comment that "around here, once you have a drop of negro blood, that makes you all black." He is assuming everyone in Maycomb thinks that. Do you think the Children believe that too and what do you think compelled Mr. Dolphus Raymond to live with a colored woman when everyone else in town was so racist. Also, what do you think provoked Atticus' suprising feelings of equality between all human people? he doesn't put himself above others while most around him do. what do you think started this? was he always like this? will his children take after him?--Chloeeh

I think that the children don't really care, their father has put his beliefs of all people are equal into their heads so the only thing they care about is if that child wants to play. Most children act like their parents and discriminate against people of opposite color as soon as they can talk, so they might take on the "angry role" and make fun of Mr. Raymond's children by spinning tales about him. i think that Mr. Raymond wanted to show Maycomb that its not painful to live with colored people, with them as family. i think that he was saying that he is like atticus showing that they are all equal and nothing should separate two different people, not even skin color. i think that Atticus has been putting his thoughts into his childrens heads for all of their life. he defends for everybody who needs someone to defend them in court even if he doesnt belive in what they did. he is showing that people are equal all over again. i dont understand why every one is so racist in small towns, it seems so much worse than what happens in big cities where a black person might just be beaten up or called names, but in small towns they get blamed for every thing, made up or true. this story really made me think twice about Cities bad Small towns good.--Peter 3/6/09 16-23 ok, so now that Jem is entering the rather awkward stage of life, it seems his insight is becoming more and more mediocre the more he thinks about things. do you think that we will start seeing a different side of Scout now that she can't understand Jem as well? do you think her insights will change with his view points? also, everytime something bad like the trial happens, it seems that Scout loses more and more of her innocence. this obviously connects to the them of innocence, but i was just wondering if you think she thinks or understands what the things such as racism and poorness and prejudice around her are?

I think that she will start to feel left out from his point of view, i think that Jem and Atticus are going to get much closer because of the "awkward stage" that Jem is going through. i doubt that she thinks that deeply about people whether what they look like or their financial status, i think that she sees people being prejudice but she doesn't think about it.--Peter..

Chp.24-27 I see alot of talk about prejudice in these last few chapters, it seems like every one is trying to act like they aren't a part of it all but really they are. i think that they should feel bad for the AA that are being pushed around like the Jews in Europe. i don't understand what they mean when they foreshadow at the end of chp. 27, are they hinting something about Boo Radley or about something to do with Tom Robinson? Just a random question, does scout head to the Halloween party in the ham suit? are the people of maycomb becoming more aware of all the prejudice going around or are they going to get worse and worse from the Robinson business? -Peter

To address your question regarding the foreshadowing at the end of chapter 27, i don't think it has much anything to do with Tom Robinson or Boo Radley. i think it is referencing the journey of growing up together, and you will have to forgive me for using such an umbrella term regarding this, but that is what i think. I don't think that they are saying that they're not part of prejudice, i just think that they are ignorant and they think of the situation in Europe is actually a predjudice situation. we know differently, that they were prejudiced, but thye didn't, i believe. Scout does not wear the ham suit to the pagent, i think she will put it on when she gets there. Answering your last question, i do think the people of maycomb are now becoming more aware of the tense atmosphere around them, though i think they have yet to identify it as prejudice. I think the bad people that actually are prejudiced know they are, and the other people who just follow the example are just ignorant.

I read a head just a little bit (3 pages or so) and i think that something is going to happen to Jem, i dont know what but i think he might meet Boo or something like that. I also found out that Jem is carrying her costume so that answers my random question (yours was close). the cliff hanger at the end of 27 was a real piss me off because i wanted to find out more but i had to stop. I wonder if or what the people of maycomb are going to do about the segregation thing. i agree with the though that Aunty Alexandra is really starting to think like Atticus, because she seem less angry towards the whole family. i also think that scout is becoming more of a lady and she is getting out of her Tom boy stage and she doesnt really realize it. but back to the pagent, i think that the longest trip is going to be because something bad happens to Jem and he dies or something like that just because thats the way i think and because thats just how good books go. I also think about the europe thing and that they are looking at that more closely than what is going on in Maycomb. --Peter