To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter 32 Few months had passed since Boo Radley came out of his house and our incident with Bob Ewell. The gossip of his death did not exist any longer. Miss Stephanie Crawford had been telling Maycomb County how Bob Ewell’s body was dragged away with a garbage truck. Most women responded with the usual curiosity that only Miss Stephanie Crawford could arouse. Dill came back in the summer, bringing a sense of relief and adventure along with him. With Jem, now thirteen, Cal let us venture further than we could the previous summer. Dill and I strode together ahead of Jem. We'd never been on this side of town by ourselves before. This part of Maycomb was unknown to us. Piles of scrap, filth, dirt, old and rusty items were all this side of Maycomb had. All there was in the Maycomb dump were mountains of trash. I wanted to wander off and …show more content…
The thought of that old drunkard strangling me to death was not a fond memory of mine. Every time I’d hear his name, my chest would fill with fear and horror. “Jem, can I go wandering off a little. I promise I’ll stay close,” I pleaded. With a little nod, Jem agreed to my plea. Atticus once said I am very lucky to have Jem as a protective, older brother. Not many have this as a blessing, so I might as well consider it as one. It was nice to have someone by my side, but in this situation, it was more bothersome than anything. As I ventured further in my greatest exploration of the Maycomb junk, I saw a small, old shack surrounded by many geraniums and camellias, reminding me of the late Mrs. Dubose. The camellias stood in the midst of the trash and the flowers blended in with the filth around it. This was the home, former home, of Robert E. Lee Ewell. It was a lonely house now. Soon, I caught sight of someone smiling at the flowers. It was Ms. Mayella Violet Ewell. I’d never seen this side of this young woman before. The ladies in Maycomb had said she was one of the filthiest women in
‘“Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin. Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls. What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts. Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard.”’ Mayella only has one thing that keeps her sane from all the horrible things that has been happening.
In Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" shows and teaches many lessons throughout the passage. Some characters that learn lessons in this passage are Scout, Jem, and Dill. Scout and Jems father Atticus, is taking a case that affects their lives in so many ways. They all learn new things throughout the story and it impacts their lives greatly. There are lots of things including the trial mostly that change the perspective of the world they live in. The kids are living in the Great Depression and it shows just how bad things really where. Scout, Jem, and Dill have experiences that force them to mature and gain new insight.
Jem Finch has come a long way since his humble beginnings as a naive ten year old child. He has come to understand the real meaning of courage, gone from playmate to protector for his sister and has grown enough to understand the workings of the real world, and see the negatives and positives of society. His maturity has been quick and the changes great, and over the years he has come to adhere, respect and carry out Atticus`s legacy and use his father`s ideals to shape his lifestyle. Due to the course of events, his adolescent changes and Atticus`s influence, Jem has matured from a reckless child into a young man capable of making his own decisions.
The book notably opens with an immediate instance of self-delusion: tricking the reader into believing that Maycomb is just an old, ordinary, and quiet town through description of the town’s history, when in reality, it was teeming with prejudice and racism. The reader immediately leans about this sleepy southern town where “a day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was
Jeremy Atticus Finch (aka Jem) from To Kill a Mockingbird is viewed as a “regular” kid who is immature and innocent to the “real world”. Since Jem is still young, he has not gone out on his own in the world and had to fend for himself. He has not seen the “real world,” therefore Jem does not understand that life is not always fair. This view of the world is clouded by his innocents. Jem, although going through the death of his mother, does not completely understand how life can be. Jem’s eyes finally start to open up to the true, harsh world after witnessing the verdict of “guilty” in the Tom Robinson court case. In seeing this injustice, Jem begins to mature more, his innocents starts slipping away, revealing how to world is.
Jem’s maturity is shown through his understanding of true courage and Boo’s true personality. A few months after that, she dies and Atticus explains about the reason he makes Jem read: “[Mrs. Dubose] had her own views about things, a lot different from mine…I wanted you to see something about her—I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (Lee 149). Atticus says that he makes Jem read to her because he wants to understand what real courage is. Mrs. Dubose is morphine addict, but she forces herself to quit even though she knows she was going to die. Without Jem’s knowledge, Mrs. Dubose has been using...
Intriguing. That is the word that comes to mind when reading Harper Lee's novel “To kill a Mockingbird”. The novel is filled with so many different view points, attitudes, feelings, etc. all in which, bring to mind a wide range of feelings. In particular, in reading chapters 8-14 of this novel, you really get an extra bit of insight into the “intriguing” sense of the characters. To be specific, in the following chapters, we get to know more about each character a little more. One person, in particular, who these chapters are seem to focus on, is Atticus Finch. Atticus is one of the main characters, father of Jem and Scout Finch, and is the main inspiration to my idea of being intriguing. In chapters 8-14 of this book, there are so many interesting and mind-boggling passages that it is hard to decide which ones really get your hair standing up most. For example, A passage that was pretty interesting was “...nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose. It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebodys favoring negroes over and above themselves” (Lee 68). It has
Atticus adopts the beliefs, morals and values he teaches his children to his own life. Through Jem’s point of view, he is witnessing how hard it is for a morphine-addicted old lady named Ms. Dubose (their neighbour) to fight through pain so that she can die (uncontrolled)unaddicted because even though she knew she was defeated by how strong morphine is, she tried anyway and she succeeded to die belonged to nothing and no one as she wanted. She is courageous because she choses not to die with the aid of morphine. ___ but to control herself and have strength to endure such pain showing people including Jem how courageous a person she is.
Scout Finch, the youngest child of Atticus Finch, narrates the story. It is summer and her cousin Dill and brother Jem are her companions and playmates. They play all summer long until Dill has to go back home to Maridian and Scout and her brother start school. The Atticus’ maid, a black woman by the name of Calpurnia, is like a mother to the children. While playing, Scout and Jem discover small trinkets in a knothole in an old oak tree on the Radley property. Summer rolls around again and Dill comes back to visit. A sence of discrimination develops towards the Radley’s because of their race. Scout forms a friendship with her neighbor Miss Maudie, whose house is later burnt down. She tells Scout to respect Boo Radley and treat him like a person. Treasures keep appearing in the knothole until it is filled with cement to prevent decay. As winter comes it snows for the first time in a century. Boo gives scout a blanket and she finally understands her father’s and Miss Maudie’s point of view and treats him respectfully. Scout and Jem receive air guns for Christmas, and promise Atticus never to shoot a mockingbird, for they are peaceful and don’t deserve to die in that manner. Atticus then takes a case defending a black man accused of rape. He knows that such a case will bring trouble for his family but he takes it anyways. This is the sense of courage he tries to instill in his son Jem.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” takes place during the 1930’s in the fictional and quiet town of Maycomb, located in Maycomb County, Alabama. The town of Maycomb is described as a tired old town that moves very slowly and its residents have nothing to fear but fear itself. Being in set in the South during the 1930’s the story does tackle racism and inequality for African Americans as racism was becoming more and more prominent in the 1930’s. The fact that the story takes place in a backwater county in Alabama makes the the injustice even more prevalent. The story goes through the early years of the main characters Jem and Scout so the exact time is always changing, however, the more important and intense parts of the story takes place
Jem becomes more mature by discovering the evil in the world when the hole in the Radley tree is filled in and when Tom Robinson is convicted by the jury. Also, his respect for his family is strengthened after his father shoots the mad dog, and when he and Scout are attacked. Finally, through Atticus’s determination to help Tom, and the reading Jem is forced to do for Mrs. Dubose, Jem’s maturity considerably increases when he learns the genuine value of bravery. As Jem’s thoughts change throughout these events, so does the way he views life. His innocence is lifted, and he matures first in respect to his family, and later to other people in his life. He is influenced by his thoughts and he shows his maturity through his actions. Jem’s example shows that the events one experiences in life will shape the kind of person they become. The more one experiences, the more he or she will develop, whether or not it is for the
People in Maycomb generally stick to their daily routines and stay away from anyone who seems suspicious or out of place. Because of this ideology, Boo Radley a mysterious, seemingly sinister figure that never comes out of hiding becomes the subject of the town’s never-ending streams of gossip, accusations and fallacies. For the children, Boo was a fascinating figure that seems to be the center of all their ghost stories, which they share like ones around a campfire. Boo is said to be a man who, “dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch…” This is a vicious, bloody image that is painted in the reader’s mind. Boo is described so vividly through the eyes of a variety of characters that this portrayal of him almost becomes the reality. For the children, fear is a sign of weakness and Boo is the source of their fear. As the time passes on, the children’s plans to force Boo out of hiding become more and more elaborate. Jem, Scout and Dill decide to role-play what Boo’s might be like. In a way, this helps the children cope with their fear. The more they think they know about Boo, the less fearful they become.
The author George Elliot once said “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Appearance can be very misleading, and you shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone. This philosophical idea has been included in many works of literature, including the timeless classic To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. The novel takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Many citizens of Maycomb tend to make judgements based on outward appearances alone. In the novel, Lee uses minor characters such as Boo Radley, Mrs. Dubose, and Tom Robinson to convey the book’s theme of prejudice.
The novel of To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the timeline and era of the 1930s which was synonymous for the renowned Great Depression. A tragedy in which social and economic change was urgently required yet old traditional beliefs and racial hierarchies including the Jim Crow laws were kept firm in position. These beliefs along with other aspects including behavior are clearly represented in the novel which leads the reader to infer that the time and setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is the 1930s. There are various methods and pieces of evidence that we draw upon that leads to the conclusion that the setting of the novel takes place in the
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee shows a misunderstanding in society by demonstrating to us how society isn’t perfect. From a child’s point of view children incorporate misunderstanding by learning from their personal experience. I wasn’t aware of how bad our Earth was being destroyed. A similar event happened when Napoleon helped France and everyone thought that Napoleon was France’s savior but what France didn’t expect was that Napoleon had other ideas and was ambitious and planned on destroying cities and killing people in order to obtain power. Nowadays racism isn’t seen as much but people still discriminate and judge people by how they act, look or how economically stable people are.