Archive for April, 2007

The Trial

{ April 24, 2007 @ 7:21 pm } · { To Kill a Mockingbird, Uncategorized }
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While i was reading the story, when i finally reached the part about Tom Robinson’s trial and what he was being charged for, for some reason shocking reminded me of a movie that ran along the same plot.  Something so huge started out with a lie in the movie. Thats the trial was also. By all the evidence and everything that Atticus shows that Tom is innocent, people still say he is guilty mainly because of his color.  The fact is that it shocked me when everyone says he is guilty when Atticus has pointed so  many things that pointed that Tom really wasn’t guilty. Besides the fact that in this time blacks could be punished for anything… So why would Tom Robinson, a husband and father, do something to a white girl, when like i said he has  a family and blacks lived in fear in these times, because they could basically be trialed for anything, and expect to lose. My opinion of the trial was that it was totally unfair. That the jury went into that courtroom with only one charge.. guilty. They didnt even probably think about swaying for the innocent side because… Tom Robinson was black. The worst part about it is that the Ewell’s are the most slimy and backstabbing kind of people in the town… and Tom Robinson even lost to them.

Few Passages (chapters 16-19)

{ April 20, 2007 @ 7:13 pm } · { To Kill a Mockingbird }
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“So it took an eight-year-old child to bring ‘em to their senses, didn’t it?” said Atticus. “That proves something that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they’re still human.” – I chose this passage because this is explaining the prejudice in the town, and how even through all the hate that is in the town for this one man… a single child can make a dozen men stop in their tracks and turn around and leave.

 

 

“Aren’t you goin’ down to watch?” asked Dill. “I am not. ‘t’s morbid, watching a poor devil on trial for his life. Look at all those folks, it’s like a Roman carnival. – This was important to me because even the kids are starting to take the opinions or actions like the whole town, by going to the trial to see this man’s conviction, where as Miss Maudie looks at it as something sinful, and not right .

“If her right eye was blacked and she was beaten moslty on the right side of her face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it.” pg 178— Seeing that Tom Robinson has a crippled left arm, and is right handed, but Mr. Ewell is left handed it pretty much makes it obvious who the criminal is in this case, but later on shows that maybe just because all the evidence points to that one person, prejudice gets the best of it.

“This case is as simple as black and white.” pg. 203 – When atticus says this, its such irony because people use the term, its as simple as black and white but in this case it really is choosing a black man who is clearly innocent or a white man who is guilty, but because this is a prejudice act… it shows who will win.

The Lockdown

{ April 20, 2007 @ 6:23 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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School day started out normal, first period went by as usually.. and we were all getting settled down into second period when Mr. Jones came over the speaker and told us to start our lockdown. The first thought that goes through everyones mind is that its only a drill… so we slowly make our way into the computer lab, turning off all the lights and just sitting on the floor. I first started realizing that it was maybe real when our teacher kept saying.. you know I don’t think this is a drill, its real. Some kids were joking and laughing about it.. I mainly was just conserned about my nap that I was taking on the floor.  When the day seemed to get longer and Mr. Jones wasn’t calling the lockdown off, we all knew it was real. I wasnt that scared or anything, i didnt think that there was something serious going on just maybe a stranger in the building or something.  When Jones came on a second time and told the teachers to go and read their emails, we knew something was going on because he wasnt saying it over the intercom. Our teacher of course came in and told us what was going on and what the email said, so everyone got a little more tense. We weren’t aloud to use our cellphones but i think that everyone said screw that idea and all cellphones were out and being used. I know that I kept getting txts from my parents, which was weird for me because i didnt even know they could use txts. I looked at the teacher and told her that i was going to txt my parents back and tell them i was ok, which i believe she started understanding where we were all coming from and let us slide.  When we finally got the announcement about what was going on, why were in lockdown, and what was happening next, we pretty much already knew what was going on. About a half hour later, we heard bangings on the door and Mr. Murphy yelling that he was coming in our class room. At first just him and a police officer walked in.. then we realized wow there are 4 SWAT team officers int here to. Fully dressed in their armor, with there huge helmets and rifles strapped across the front of them. It was very scary seeing this. I think this was the time i realized that it was real. When we had to put our hands on everyones shoulders people that it was a great idea to run themselves out of the doors, and pretty much drag all the slow people down.  Finally when we stepped outside for the first time which seemed like forever, we were greeted with cameras in our face and worried parents standing outside.  We walked into the civic center which was alright, I was one of the first classes in there so it wasnt too crowded. After sitting in the civic center a while, we got the new that it was false…. the reaction was priceless… everyone was pretty “pissed” off. I dont think there was one person in there that didnt want to beat the crap out of that kid right there and then. I will admit i was one of them. I couldnt believe that i had that much time in my life wasted by something so stupid and immature, that now i have to come back another day out of my summer for something  that could of not happened, if that kid wouldnt of lied. The thing i think is the worst is that they did it right after the REAL tragedy at virginia tech. Im still mad about the deal something so dumb.

12-15 blog

{ April 12, 2007 @ 7:29 pm } · { To Kill a Mockingbird }
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When I was reading these chapteres, I noticed that the prejudice in the town is getting stronger the futher the reader goes into the story. Its not so much focusing on Jem’s and Scout’s lives anymore… it more or less focuses on their opinions about their father.  Atticus is certainly becoming one of the main characters in the story at this point. From what I can tell from the story, he is a lawyer who is sticking up for Tom Robinson, a black man who was accused of rape. Because Atticus is defending him, the reader doesn’t really know if Tom is guilty or actually innocent. Atticus obviously believes he is innocent because he fights so hard for him. When he sits outside the jail cell waiting for the people to try and come get Tom, this just proves to the reader that Atticus is really taking this trial seriously.

Prejudice

{ April 10, 2007 @ 5:54 pm } · { To Kill a Mockingbird }
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When I read, To Kill a Mockingbird, the aspects of prejudice seem to pop up most in this story. To relate to this story we have to think about something in our life that we can relate to prejudice in the book.

My past experiences…. and present experiences have a lot to do with school, and the different “clicks” in the story. It could be considered prejudice when people are categorized by the people or the different groups they hang out with. You have the popular kids, or otherwise the jocks.. who seem to get the reputation of being snotty, jerks, and judgemental people that think they are perfect. They also can be labeled as daddy’s girls… or the rich kids that get to spend daddy’s money. There is also the nerdy groups, which they are like the smart kids, that are bookworms and no life. 

Many people don’t realize it but, this is getting just as bad as racism. It seems like a small issue, but many people don’t realize how big of an issue it is.   This can connect with Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson in the story, because Tom Robinson is a victim of racism, as to Boo Radley, who is a victim of prejudice, where he is labeled a bad person, because he doesn’t come out of his house.. even though no one really understands. They just seem to make up things about him, which the children pick up on and pass it along to other people.  This is how prejudice starts.. with something small that gets passed on and manipulated and twisted until it is made into something big and and unaccepted into normal life.

symbols and questions

{ April 2, 2007 @ 7:23 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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OUR GROUP QUESTIONS and OBSERVATIONS:

1. Pg. 73 Why doesn’t Mrs. Maudie really care that her house burnt down? … She might just be trying to make the best of it. Even though she knows she lost a lot of stuff… she tries to look on the positive side of it.

2. Pg 85. Why does Uncle Jack think he was too strict… was it because he doesn’t have children of his own? Why doesn’t he have children?

3. Pg. 58 Why did Boo Radley fix Jem’s pants? Since everyone makes him seem like a bad person why is he helping out with things.

4. Pg. 62 Why did Mr. Radley fill the tree whole with cement? The tree wasn’t dead, and that was his excuse for filling it up.

5.Pg 88 Why does Atticus keep defending the black man, when he knows he isnt going to win?

6. pg 90 The title comes into play when Atticus says “Its a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Because they are innocent and all they do is make music.

7.Pg 96 Its weird how Attics is this big laywer and some people think highly of him, and now he held a secret from his kids about his gun skills, which he doesnt seem so proud of.

8. Pg98 Why did Miss. Maudie ask the children if they thought their dad couldn’t do anything? When obviously they respect him.

9. Pg99 When Scout and Jem say they hate Mrs. Dubose, becase she interrogates them… Maybe she is hiding something.

10. Pg 108 I like how Atticus stands up for himself and addresses that he does inface car for black people, even if others in the town find that wrong.. including his own kids.

11. Pg 111 Is the reason Mrs. Dubase wanted off the morphine, was becase she wanted to die clean?

12. Pg 112 I like how the last page hasa good moarl that Atticus talks to Jem about being brave, and how Mrs. Dubose was a brave women.

Themes:

At first the theme could of been something to do with a brother and sister relationship and what that means… but now getting into the book… its more about prejudice in the town.. and the mysteries of Boo Radley.

Symbols:

1. The cross in the tree… or any objects in the tree

2. Mr. Radley house.. every kid in Maycomb is scared of it.

3. The soap carvings, that mysteriously looks like Jem and Scout.

4. Mrs. Maudie’s house burning down…. the prejudice side of town.

5. The blanket wrapped around Scout.

6. The string, or yarn they find after Jem found his pants sewn, and folded.

7. The first snowfall since 1886, and the Snowman that they made to resemble Mr. Avery.

8. They use dirt, but cover it up with snow so it doesn’t resemble a black man… racisism in town.