Andy+&+Cory

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Wednesday, Feburary 18th C- Hey i have a question. Do you think that the stories about Aurthur (Boo) Radly are true? We have heard alot of different points of view from people in the book but who do you think is right or are they all lies. Also do you think Boo acctually does get out of the house at night or when and why does nobody ever see him? A- I think that some of the stories are true, but not all of them. For instance, the scissors one is probably true, and i think Boo's alive, but I severely doubt that Miss Stephanie actually saw him craning over her bed. What I'm more concerned about is why Boo wound up that way... I mean, it's understandable that he went crazy after his father chained him up, but what prompted Mr. Radley to be so ashamed? and any semi-sane person would have to be pretty pissed to stab their dad w/ a scissors, but apparently Boo was perfectly cool. That's what bothers me. C- ya i think that the sissiors story is true but i dont think he was chained up and you know the hideing spot in the tree i think thats Boo's and he only goes out of the house at night. do you think the whole book will be about the Radly's or do you think the stories going to go somewhere? haha you know whats funny is that it seems like a typical story about a neighborhood and theres the one creepy house that no one wants to go near but when some crazy kid decide to mess with the people inside they are able to get the people to come out and be nice. haha. i dont think that ever happens in real life even if you do have a bad neighbor but the kids are only that crazy in books or movies haha. A- Well, I've already read the book like 5 times, so i can't really tell you what I honestly think about how it will go. But yeah, i bet Boo hid the stuff. It seems really childish, though. Not like something a 30 year-old man would do. It sounds more like Dill or Walter Cunningham. But I don't think they did it. I don't know.

Tuesday, February 24th A- How come Atticus never told Scout and Jem about the fact that he was the best shot in the county? It sounds almost like something to be proud of, but as Jem says, "Atticus is a gentleman, just like me!" Maybe he wasn't proud of what he shot, which brings up more mysteries about Atticus... He also seems to be nice to Ms. Dubose, even though she verbally abuses him all the time. I don't like Ms. Dubose. What kind of person wants to be beholden to nothing and nobody? I understand the morphine, but she could at least have some friends. C- i think that Atticus maybe shot something he was not proud of. maybe he shot a mockingbird and was not proud. I think that he must have made a mistake and regretted his deadly shot. I wonder how he learned to shoot so well. I think that Jem realizes that killing things is nothing to be proud of unless its necessary. Do you think that the dog was acctually rabid or just sick? i dont know why it would matter but for some reason i think that it does maybe Atticus knew that the dog wasnt rabid but shot it anyway to keep peace in the town. Sometimes I think that Atticus is too polite which is sort of weired because i dont know how someone could be too polite i think it probably has somthing to do with the whole deadliest shot thing i think he knows that he could really hurt someone if he wanted too but he keeps himself undercontrol.

A- I don't know if he literally killed a mockingbird, but he does seem so much more tempered than everyone else. He's like the only one who would defend Tom Robinson, and everyone calls him a "nigger-lover". :P (these people make me sick) He seems to be a little more sympathetic and stuff than everyone else. Aunt Alexandra and Miss Stephanie say people are trash, and Dill is always terrorizing Boo Radley, and Ms. Dubose hates the world, and I don't know what Miss Maudie is, but she does get sort of bitter sometimes, and Miss Caroline has to have things as is according to the system she's thought out, and the Ewells... They're crazy bastards who don't seem to be human, and Heck Tate and the cunninghams act according to how they were brought up, they're like the cultural norms embodied. But Atticus is weird in that he seems really passive and he's nice to everyone. He cares about stuff, but he doesn't really speak out against what he doesn't think is right.

C- I think your right Atticus is probs the nicest person in the neighborhood. haha if you really think about it all the neighbors seem very strange and Atticus the most normal yet he is the one that is called a "nigger-lover" that sounds so horrible i hate that word nigger god i can belive that just a short time ago thats what they called african-americans and now to some people its rude to call them black we have made alot of progress. anyway im getting of topic so Atticus is picked on for being nice i think thats because he trys to do everything he can for others like thats why hes so nice and everyone else is so mean everyone else is very self centered and always think that they are right but Atticus thinks of others and is open to listening to others opinions and doesnt advertise his skills. thats what sets him apart from the rest of the neighborhood and thats why hes pikced on if that makes any sense. haha

A- Cory, u are like the queen of run-on sentences. But yeah, you're right. We have made a lot of progress in the anti-discriminatory field. I guess we're almost all like Atticus now. We've kind of gone through a mellowing process over the decades, like everyone's passively free-thinking. Or maybe that's just SPA. Anyways, Atticus is really cool. We've been on this topic a bit too long, though. What do you think about Ms. Dubose? She's really mean, but that might just be the morphine. still, that's no real excuse to verbally abuse little 8-year-old girls all the time. Poor Scout. Everyone's pressuring her to grow up and be a lady, but she's freaking 8! who really cares! she has all the time in the world to change. Let her be herself for now, and she can go through the pressure later. That's what annoys me. She gets out of Ms. Caroline's class, which she hates, and suddenly every woman in town is trying to control her.

C- ya i feel bad for Scout. She seems like a typical 8 yr old girl. Just the more tom-boy 8 yr old girl haha. I think that Ms. Dubose needs to die if shes so old i think they need to take her off of whatever shes taking and let her die a slow painful death. jk but shes very mean. i wonder if she ever had kids i bet if she did they were alot worse than Scout and Jem. if she ever had kids they would probably run away from home as soon as they got the chance. i feel bad for Scout and Jem there growing up in a time and a place that arn't influencing them in the best way possible. i think that they should try and stay away from their mean and mysterious neighbors and just enjoy life with the nice people i guess but they just seem to like trouble.

Tuesday, March 3.

A- What do you think about Mayella and Bob Ewell? I'm almost going to give up what I said earlier about the Ewells 'cause I'm so sorry for Mayella. Bob beats her and she's scared of him. She has to take care of the kids, and they're mean and nasty. She probably doesn't like the fact that they're living off welfare money, but she doesn't dare say anything because she's so scared of her dad. And she doesn't want to tell Atticus anything cause she knows she's gonna win and Mr. Ewell won't go to jail and he'll just start beating/raping/whatevering her harder and more often. She's kind of in a crappy situation.

3/11/09 C- ,i feel very sorry for mayella she seems so abused. i think that her dad probably convinced her to lie about being raped so that he could get justace and not get accused of rape himself. i mean for raping his daughter/ beating her. i think that Tom would have had a good chance of being set free if he hadnt died. i wish we could have seen more of Tom like heard him have convorsations and get to know him better. oh well. anyway do you think that we will ever hear from Boo do you think that we'll ever meat him

A- I doubt that tom would be set free if the jury was the Cunninghams and so on again. They're just really prejudiced and ignorant, but in any case, poor Mayella would be in the same situation. How can she take that? She's just so much like the other ladies sometimes, it drives me insane. She only does what they would really do, but she should be sticking up for herself more, like Scout. The whole southern-lady culture is very passive-aggressive, and it's really destructive.

3-13-09

C- What do you think the message of the book is i think its about scapegoats and like how they normally end up innocent but things never go their way. i think that Atticus learned not to blame a scapegoat even if their guilty because things will not go their way. i think he learned this from the Tom Robinson case.

A- There's a lot of themes to this book. Innocence and scapegoats are definitely two of them, but not all. Prejudice and hypocrisy are two more themes. These are all demonstrated in the Tom Robinson case, but the first two are also used referring to Mr. Arthur, so they are probably the dominant themes. Jem and Scout are a really good way to demonstrate innocence and losing it. So is Boo, because he's not really exposed to the world except for his cruel parents/brother. I guess that's a different sort of innocence, because Jem and Scout are innocent of any evil, because they've never really been too much exposed to it, but Boo's never been exposed to anything good. Innocence goes both ways.