Melanie+&+Liz

 18/2/09

When i first read that Scout was only going into the first grade i was surprised. I think that Scout's character should be older, along with Dill. They also seem too smart for their age. Liz: I think Scout is her age, she shows alot of emotions and interaction with people as a eight year old would-for example pg. 27 when Calpurina yells at Scout "there"s some folks who don"t eat like us.don"t matter who they are." because she doesn't know what she is saying is rude and disrespectful.

Mel: Yes, but in the classroom especially you get an idea that these are educated children; it's not what i would have expected from a first grader. Even on page 34-35 when Scout admits to her father why she's upset (not supposed to read or write anymore) and she eventually has to ask her father what he means by: "I'm afraid our activities would be received with considerable disapprobation by the more learned authorities" there's a sense of formality between them that isn't common in a first grader or between a daughter and her father.

2/24/09 (we just read chp. 9-10) Liz: I think Atticus is like the perfect dad in this book. I mean he doesn't get drunk, doesn't hit his kids, or anything. -i don't really know what to say. Mel: Yah, i think he's a good dad, but it's interesting. He doesn't seem to take a whole lot of interest into their lives, well, I mean he does it's just that he's not that involved. At the same time, he seems to know a lot about his kids, like on page 73, when Jem thinks that Atticus knows what they had actually been doing the night when they were supposed to be by the fishpool. When Harper Lee finally described him on pg 102, it deffinately wasn't what i had been expecting. I didn't see him as a guy who's loosing his vision or anything. That kind of was a disappointment, he seems like a strong figure. I still don't think that Scout should have been disappointed in him though. He's already proven to her that he's a profound figure and yet she's not proud of him. Until she finds out he can shoot things, then she's proud. But that seems stupid.

Liz: On pg. 103 Miss Maudie talks to Scout about her father and that he was the best shooter, could play the Jew's Harp, and was the best checker player but he let them win. Scout says that Atticus is too old. Since Atticus hasn't told Scout or jem about his hidden talents, it seems like hes hidding alot of things, and that its just starting to open up in this part of the book. But Miss Maudie says thats it only the begining-do you think this actually will be affected by the story or is it just a saying? Will it have anything to do with the trial? Mel: If i understand what your saying, I do think that his hidden talents will affect the story, and so will the fact that he was hiding them. first off, it's odd that Atticus did hide his talents because he's a smart man and he should know that there's nothing wrong with having talents, you just don't have to act them through. Or at least that's my opinion. This also shows that Atticus is going to be a major character, even more than I originally thought he was.

Liz: I think now more than ever Atticus plays a big role. It was kind of the same with Jem he was almost like a main character in chapters 6-8. 3/3/09 Chp: 11-17

Mel: Aunt Alexandra is an interesting character. She is obviously mean, but i don't think she tries to be. She's a very poor "feminine influence". I don't like the way that she puts everyone into sections, except for herself and the rest of the Finch family. I don't see how she represents a "lady" when she constently is gossiping about people and saying stuff that just shouldn't really be said. Also, where is she durring the trial?

Liz: I think Aunt Alexandra was more of a charactger when we first met her, she had all this influence in which she thought Atticus was a bad example, and how Scout runs around in pants barefooted. I think now shes gotten used to the idea that it is going to be hard to change Scout. I also though it was weird when Atticus was talking about Cal' s people, and how Atticus should talk about them infront of her. But then Atticus says there family, which I don't think Alexandra wants to except. Mel: she's deffinately not into the "let's be nice to blacks" idea. The way she raised Francis shows that. I also find it odd that she has no feelings for her husband. Why would you marry someone if you don't even have enough feelings for them to even hate them? Although, i thought she would freak out way more than she did when she learned that Scout, Jem and Dill went to Atticus's "showdown". Liz: Yeah, its not like Alexandra really cares about Scout, or Jem. I mean she doesn't really care when they go anywhere, or when they get in trouble. And frankly she keeps complaining about how they aren't supervised but its not like she doesn't take it into her own power to take care of them. I think this whole thing is like a vacation for her, having tea parties, and gossiping. Without the worry of a son, or a husband.

3/11/09

Liz: During chapter 6 Scout doesn't understand her teacher Mrs. Gates showing that she hates Hitler for his predujce against Jews but yet she hates blacks just as much. There are alot of examples of Scout innocence in previous chapters and I think that Jem has grown out of it because he begins to realize it-for example the court/trail. Even though Scout and Jem are from a different era, children today still relfect on the same pahses and topics Jem and Scout go through-for example the whole "where babies come from" its kind of like the trial. Scout can't fully understand it, and it isn't exactly told exactly to her by Atticus, she's still going through the phase of having to ask questions without thinking about it. She does this alot with all the people in Maycomb county, sometimes she speaks out of context (like when she ran into the mob), or like when in Chapter 3 when she was dicussing Walter Cunnigham with Capulrina, she didn't exactly know how rude, and inconsiderite it was. But mainly these actions expressed by Scout show that she has been in this child state, and unlike Jem hasn't grown out of it. I think she represents the child in the book, since this is such a adult topic (the rape/beating of a girl), she always brings us back to what a child would think or act.

Mel: Well, i don't think Jem has "grown out" of his innocence yet. The reaction he had to Scout mentioning the court house on page 283 shows that. He didn't understand or seem to want to even acknollege what had happened. Even though he wants to grow up, and it seems that he is in many aspects, he isn't there yet. For example, when he's talking about folk, he trys to group them into orinary, people "like the Cunninghams", kind "like the Ewells", and African Americans. He realizes that people aren't all the same, cuz he says that if we were all the same then we could get along on page 259, but he doesn't understand that there aren't simple groups of people. He doesn't realize that there are different kinds of "good," like and there's many different kinds of "bad"; it's not just limited to the Ewells. I also kind of think Atticus is innocent, well, maybe not inocent but ignorant really in his own way. He has seen all the terrible things that go on, but he still believes that Mr. Ewell isn't going to hurt anybody (I do think he's the one who tried to break into the judge's house), and he ignored the crap that Mrs. Dubose said to his kids (even if she was dying, she had been bugging them her whole life). I think that Aunt Alexandra is the only one who does actually get everything that goes on around her.

Liz: I think Scout and Jem can relate to everyone of us, alot of people can say that they didn't understand something that was just to mature for them to handle-like the trial and Dill crying. I think that one point this book shows it that also even innocence can realize the truth. I think back then many people didn't want to face the truth, and there was a very large loss of innocence betweeen all the prejudice. I think that is what Harper Lee is trying to get across in this book, especially during the time. We don't have that enormous amount of prejudice today, but there is still some, I think that today people don't cry at trials because they know what to expect, and they can handle it. There has been so much bad in this world that when your a kid you can't comprehende, then as you become an adult you realize how bad things are, and then finally when you are an adult you can cope with all the bad and good things in life. I think Harper Lee show this through her characters Scott, Jem and Atticus. 3/14/09

Mel: I think it was kind of ironic that the mean guy who pretty much got Tom Robbinson killed and was trying to kill the poor kids was the one who got killed in the end. I'm glad that there were some good people in the town who were willing to protect Boo though. He wouldn't have been able to get through a trial. I think he wins as beining the most inocent one. He was just a poor kid who did a littl fooling around then he was practically condemnbed for the rest of his lie. I thought it was so sweet when he asked scout to take him back to his house. He hasn't changed at all from childhood. It's actually sort of like staying in the house protected him from the outside world, like what Jem said on page 259, Boo isn't stuck in the house, he //wants// to be there. I also thought it was interesting that Scout was the one who made the connection on page 317, "it'd sort of be like killing a mocking bird?" about what would happen if Boo got sent to trial, she seems the one who has grown up th most.

Liz: I think that in the midest of Maycomb there are these little kids that Harper Lee relfects on (Scout and Jem) and everyone else we are shown to is a grown up, and these situations are for adults and here are these little kids. What Harper Lee writes is there "journey" in understanding what is happening. You see Jem and Dill sort of understand when Tom Robinson is put on trial the discrimination people have towards African Americans. All the other people/characters like Atticus and Aunt Alexandra that know whats going on and have thier own little way of handling it. I think Harper Lee puts Boo Radley in her because he is like the separation between the adults and kids. He is like the only adult child and Harper Lee puts him in their to show the adult and child character-so the different characters (scout/atticus) have something to transition between.