To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter discussions. |
 Jul 31 2008, 05:04 PM
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Exclusive distributor of The Dungbomb Protection Kit  Posts: 2,632 Joined: 10:52pm March 5, 2007    |
To Kill a Mockingbird Part One To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily a novel about growing up under extraordinary circumstances in the 1930s in the Southern United States. The story covers a span of three years, during which the main characters undergo significant changes. Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem and their father Atticus in the fictitious town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a small, close-knit town, and every family has its social station depending on where they live, who their parents are, and how long their ancestors have lived in Maycomb. A widower, Atticus raises his children by himself, with the help of kindly neighbors and a black housekeeper named Calpurnia. Scout and Jem almost instinctively understand the complexities and machinations of their neighborhood and town. The only neighbor who puzzles them is the mysterious Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo, who never comes outside. When Dill, another neighbor’s nephew, starts spending summers in Maycomb, the three children begin an obsessive—and sometimes perilous—quest to lure Boo outside. Scout is a tomboy who prefers the company of boys and generally solves her differences with her fists. She tries to make sense of a world that demands that she act like a lady, a brother who criticizes her for acting like a girl, and a father who accepts her just as she is. Scout hates school, gaining her most valuable education on her own street and from her father. Scout and Jem discover that their father is going to represent a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping and beating a white woman. Suddenly, Scout and Jem have to tolerate a barrage of racial slurs and insults because of Atticus’ role in the trial. During this time, Scout has a very difficult time restraining from physically fighting with other children, a tendency that gets her in trouble with her Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jack. Even Jem, the older and more levelheaded of the two, loses his temper a time or two. After responding to a neighbor’s (Mrs. Dubose) verbal attack by destroying her plants, Jem is sentenced to read to her every day after school for one month. Ultimately, Scout and Jem learn a powerful lesson about bravery from this woman. *Synopsis written by CliffsNotes* Here are some discussion questions to get you going. Feel free to introduce your own questions, and add any thoughts. * Why is Dill so fascinated with Boo Radley? * What do you think of the educational methods of Scout's teacher? * Was the 'truant lady' right to give up on getting the Ewell kids to attend school? * Do you think Jem and Scout behave more like children, or more like adults, why? Why do they call their father by his first name? * Why do you suppose Boo started leaving gifts for the children? * When do you suppose Atticus knew the truth about where Jem's pants had gone? Jem had told what he thought was a successful lie, why did he retrieve his pants? * Why would Nathan Radley cement the holes in the tree to cut off contact between Boo and the children? * Why was Jem so affected by losing contact with Boo? * Was Atticus right in allowing Scout to swear? * Why is Atticus reluctant to share his talent for shooting with his children? * According to Atticus, courage is "when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what". Do you agree with this definition? How did Atticus' lesson on courage prepare Scout and Jem for their future trials? This post has been edited by Pyxis: Aug 3 2008, 07:05 PM |
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Aug 12 2008, 03:25 PM
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One Half of the DDD  Posts: 8,481 Joined: 5:31pm August 30, 2006 Location: Siriusly Dreaming Somewhere |
Ooh, good questions Pyxis.
I was horrified by Scout's teacher's methods. I don't actually remember learning to read but I'm told I could read by age three, at school I was encouraged to read more and my first teacher used to let me sit in her chair to read a story to the other kids when she needed time to do something else. I grew up loving books, not just the reading but the feel, sight and smell of them, and to try to take that away from a child is, to me, a misguided and horrible thing to do. I really felt for poor Scout, being expected to take so many steps backwards. I don't think the 'truant lady' right to give up on getting the Ewell kids to attend school she should have done all in her power to make sure they received an education but then maybe she had done all in her power, I have no idea what legislation existed at that time to protect the education of children, and just recognised that she'd reached her limits. I do think Jem and Scout behave more like children than adults, they have a childish view of boundaries, right and wrong and the motives and actions of adults around them. For instance only the children call Arthur Radley "Boo" and believe in the mythology surrounding him, they make up their "Radley game" and believe that only they know about it, not understanding that Atticus knows what they're up to (children are often surprised at how perceptive their parents can be). They have a childish view of their father's abilities and strengths, they see him as doing nothing much, because they don't see what he does, only when they see him shoot the mad dog do they look on him with admiration and pride, not that they don't love him, they do but until then they think he's quite ordinary. I think Atticus has always treated them in a fatherly way but as equals, he doesn't talk down to them about anything but deals with them on level terms. I wonder whether he and his wife called each other by their first names in front of the children instead of using "Mum and Dad" and Jem just picked it up without being told not to, it gives me the impression that Atticus is just very secure in his sense of place within the family, he knows that they love and respect him and just doesn't need to be called Dad to be a Dad, if that makes sense. I'll come back later to some of the other questions. --------------------  November's book is The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" |
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Aug 12 2008, 06:16 PM
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Leaky's Official Donut Maker and Mosquito Man  Posts: 11,144 Joined: 10:51am August 25, 2005 Location: Playing kal-toh with Professor Snape |
QUOTE * Why would Nathan Radley cement the holes in the tree to cut off contact between Boo and the children? I know there's a thread about Boo Radley but I still dont think I figured out exactly who he is or what he's about to post in that thread. But, while I think a lot of the stories about Boo & that house are invented or hugely exaggerated like happens about anyone that's different or a little mysterious, a lot of myths have basis in fact. I think Boo's family didnt want him going out, or meeting people, maybe because he is *different* or maybe because they didnt treat him right, so when Boo begins to communicate in the only way he knows how, Nathan discovers this and the growing mutual friendship and decides to put an end to it. Although the kids originally want Boo to come outside as a dare or just to see the mysterious Boo, maybe instinctively they feel his isolation and loneliness, also maybe Boo interprets their gestures as benign or a gesture of reaching out a hand of friendship. If I remember right, when Scout hits the house in the tire she hears laughter. Maybe Boo is happy or enthraled or just amused by this in the way any other friend would be. But, Nathan doesnt want Boo to go out.  --------------------   I'm 1 of the 99.99% W.L.Y.J.  When I sleep I dream, and when I dream I can rise above the walls Remember Cameron Duncan Thanks Jeff! |
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Aug 12 2008, 09:54 PM
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Rat Tonic Bottler Posts: 1,129 Joined: 11:39pm June 30, 2007 Location: The Burrow, swapping knitting patterns with Molly |
Scout's teacher was acting the same way that I have seen a lot of teachers fresh from University behave. They have been taught a certain way to teach and expect the children to conform to that ideal. Scout was an extremely intelligent and mature child for the first grade. The others saw her as a leader and that is why she was asked to speak on behalf of Walter Cunningham. There was no way that Scout was going to be the ideal student that her teacher had planned for.
-------------------- Maroon to the Bone Four years in a row, what champions. Hugs to Up To No Good for my cute avatar |
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Aug 15 2008, 02:24 PM
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Knight MacMod The Great Protecting The Memory Of Sense Posts: 2,430 Joined: 7:17pm February 17, 2006 Location: 3rd door on the left, Hogsmeade  |
Many years ago, while I was finishing my Master's Degree (in literature), I got a half-time job teaching math and electronics on a US Navy base (I had been a Navy electronics technician for several years). I was sent to teach a new, experimental program with a new text. The text book had a "programmed instruction" approach. On the second day of class, a student raised his had to ask a question. I answered it.
After class, the "observer" (who was involved in writing the text) got angry because I had not read the printed response from the book--although that response was not an answer to the question. I was told that if the printed response was inadequate, that fact would be revealed by low test scores. I was not to supply any information that was not printed, word-for-word, from the the text. I asked the observer why they had bothered to hire a teacher who actually understood the subject. Why not hire a minimum wage drunk who could read the text out loud? The observer pulled out her clipboard and made a note about my "attitude." Since my attitude and I have gotten along well for years, I suggested an anatomical improbability, and kept answering questions. --------------------  click the Q "And, if there is need to speak in brief summary of this power, we shall find that none of the things which are done with intelligence take place without the help of speech, but that in all our actions as well as in all our thoughts speech is our guide, . . ." Isocrates, Antidosis |
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