Wiley - Characterization Essay

     In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird,  Jem and Scout learn right from wrong through many events, but Atticus specifically teaches them about treating people as equal. Atticus himself shows this by defending Tom Robinson, letting Jem and Scout go to the First Purchase Church, and treating Mayella Ewell with respect even though he knows that she is lying.
     The main event in the book is the Tom Robinson trial. Tom was a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Atticus made the right decision trying to defend Tom, even though he was black. " The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. p. 163" . Blacks were treated like dirt back then and Atticus stepped up to the plate and did his best to defend that Tom was innocent. Maybe this taught Jem and Scout to treat others equally    
     The Finch Family had a black women by the name Calpurnia that was the house maid. On Sundays she attended the First Purchase Church. Jem and Scout wanted to go with her and see what negro church was like. None of the people knew how to read so they had a man read the hymnals so they would repeat them. "Zeebo cleared his throat and read in a voice like the rumble of distant artillery..... Miraculously on pitch, a hundred voices sang out Zeebo's words. p. 121" When they came home, they told Atticus and he was okay with it. This showed the children that it didn't matter the color of your skin on whether or not they should hang out with them.
     So during the trail, Mayella Ewell was called to the podium. Atticus was asking her questions about what had happened the night of the rape. He knew that Mayella was lying but still was treating her with respect. "You're a strong girl, what were you doing all the time, just standing there? p. 187" That showed how Atticus knew she was lying and therefore unintentionally showed Jem and Scout that they need to treat all people with respect. This came into effect when they were talking to Dolphus Raymond. He told them he actually didn't drink and that he preferred blacks. The children didn't judge him and put him a bad spot, but looked at him with a little bit of a more open mind.
     The Tom Robinson case, the First Purchase Church, and Mayella Ewells incident showed Jem and Scout to treat people as equal all the time. That is why Atticus specifically teaches them right from wrong through events in the story.

Wiley Summarizer 17-21

     The setting of this section was in the Maycomb, Alabama courtroom. While I was reading the chapters, I felt that the most important event was Tom Robinson was found guilty because everyone knew that he was innocent and everyone knew that a black man couldn't beat a white woman in court.This part of the story was important because it shows how bad the people were back in the day. You had to be a royal jerk to know that someone was innocent and send them to jail or even get them killed. These events influence Atticus, Jem, Scout, and Tom Robinson. It made Atticus feel very angry. It mad Jem super mad. It made Scout cry, and it made Tom Robinson probably feel like crap because he knew he was innocent. To go along with the events is the tone. I felt that the tone of this section was mixed up because at first it was hopeful and then it was just gloomy.
     My groups literature circle was good. As a group we felt that these next things were important. We felt that it would suck to be a black back in the day because people were so mean to them. We felt that all people were created equal. We felt that a symbol in this section was when Atticus loosened his watch and tie, trying to connect more to the jury by being like them. The conflict in this section was obviously the Tom Robinson trial. To intensify the suspense, it took the jury a long time to come to a conclusion. This outcome was effected by him being black and her being white.
     Tom Robinson was found guilty because of the color of his skin. Everyone knew he was innocent but could find him innocent because

Chapter 12-16 Connector

     During this reading session, I made some connections to my life in Kalispell, Montana. I thought that Kalispell is like Maycomb because of the people. Most places in Kalispell have friendly people that will you find what you need. I think that there are also people like Dill in the fact that they live with other people. You usually find them buy Target and Wal-Mart. I also made a connection between the fight between Scout and Jem. My brother and I always fight and they usually end in a bloody nose or two. Then right after the fight, it's like nothing ever even happened.There are people in real life that are just like the characters in the story. I related Dill to the people who are at the Hutton Ranch Plaza earlier in the blog. As I was reading, I tried to think of another story or book that I have read that was similar to the book TKMB. Then I realized that I don't read books and so I couldn't. But if there was a book full of racism, discrimination, and stereotypes, then that would be the book that I read that was similar. While on the topic of discrimination, our literature circle was making connections from the story to our life. I made the connection that parents had a huge impact on kids. My connection was when I was young, it was Halloween and I was at DQ with my family. A black girl that was dressed up as a cowboy walked in and I yelled, "Look Mom! A chocolate cowgirl!". That just proves that your parents have a huge impact on your early life.
     During the course of our literature circle, we discussed each of our jobs. There were things that we realized in the story that we didn't before. The main thing was the fact that some blacks didn't like the whites just like some whites didn't like blacks. As a group, we decided that one of the most important parts in this section was the fact that Aunt Alexandria came to live with the Finch's. We thought this because Scout was not being lady-like and she came to fix it. This stirred up a few fights and breakdowns. Along with Aunt Alexandria coming, the breaking of the childhood code, telling Atticus that Dill was in the house and he wanted to call his parents. Our literature circle thought that the tone of this section was kind of conflicting because in one part it would be all calm and then the next one would be all violent. We also concluded that Aunt Alexandria was really stuck up.
    

6-11 Illuminator

     As I was reading through chapters six though eleven, I noticed there were symbols throughout the whole time. The one that stood out to me the most was the dog. It seems weird but I think that it wsa the dog because to me it symbolized Atticus showing the kids that he isn't just a lame old lawyer, but he still has "One Shot Finch" inside of him from when he was a boy, when he shot the dog. I noticed that in chapters six through eleven, the author, Harper Lee, shows an excellent setting by just the way she dicribes eac hand every season. For example, when she is discribing the first time it snows in Maycomb, and the children are making snowmen out of mostly dirt and then covering them in a top layer of snow, is a good example of the type of setting Harper Lee shows in the chapters. Every section of the book has conflict and resolution and I felt the need to tell you about at least one of them. The dog, towards the end of the section, is the perfect example of man vs. nature in a way that the man, all of the people, and the nature, the dog, are in a conflict and resoulution situation. To make this conflict intense, Harper Lee made the dog mad or in my opinion rabid. This man vs. nature conflict was settled when Atticus Finch was handed the gun and shot the dog, reminding him of his days as "One Shot Finch". This was the easiest method to solve the conflict because the dog didn't belong to anyone and they could risk anyone being hurt. In this section of the book, I felt that the emotion was off and on. What I mean by that is there were parts where the mood was soft, like when Atticus told Jem and Scout told them about not killing the Mockingbird because it is a soft, delicate creature. Or the mood was harsh like when Scout fought his cousin for saying bad things about his father. If I was one of the characters in the book, and I was at my literature circle, I would be Boo Radley. I think that if I were him, I would just be huddled over in my own little corner, not wanting to talk to anybody.
     The discussion that I had in my literature went well. It was the first actual literature circle we had and we didn't have the Connector. Colby and Paige were the Directors. They talked about the director questions as well as the extra questions