As I read the beginning of chapter 12 Jem 's hit the middle school years, and everyone knows what that means: he 's angsty, moody, prone to prolonged silences broken by angry outbursts, and he all of a sudden thinks Scout should act like a girl.Also the story says that Jem is now the age of twelve, but he is now starting to get to the age where he doesn 't want to hang out with Scout and also feels annoyed. Also to add to Scout’s trouble, Dill will not be coming to Maycomb this summer, but Calpurnia eases her loneliness. What is even worse that Atticus has been called by the state legislature and to come into a special session and is away for two weeks.Calpurnia doesn 't trust Jem and Scout to go to church by themselves (there was a past
The mistakes Scout makes on her first day of school are, telling her her teacher that she can read and write, and trying to explain to her teacher why Walter wouldn’t take the money.
September begins and Dill leaves Maycomb to go back to the town of Meridian. Scout feels sad but is excited to go to school for the first time. She has been longing to go to school and in the past would spy on the school children through a telescope. However, on her first day of school she gets assigned to Miss Caroline Fisher who is unaware of the Maycomb customs because she is from north Alabama. Miss Caroline Fisher is not very pleasant with the children and becomes extremely upset with Scout when she learns that Atticus has taught Scout to read. She makes Scout feel guilty for having learn to read before school started. Scout complains to her older brother Jem but he tells her that Miss Caroline is just trying a new method of teaching.
Atticus states that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” How is this idea explored in Chapters 2 and 3?
It is significant for Scout, as a young child, to know the importance of seeing things from many different viewpoints and not just one. Scout believes Miss Caroline, her school teacher, is not kind because of things that had happened on her first day of school. She was told that Atticus needed to stop teaching her to read, and was punished for being disruptive during class. Atticus explains the situation to Scout by saying,“‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 33). Miss Caroline is new to the town and is looked down upon by other teachers. To see it from Miss Caroline’s point of view is important because one could be biased and seeing it from another’s point of view can explain why they are the way they are or why they did something. For example, Miss Caroline had offered Walter Cunningham, a poor boy with no lunch, money to buy food, but
In Chapter 12 of Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many events and situations in which irony is used to support the theme of the chapter. An example of this is in the very beginning of the chapter, when Scout is concerned about how distant and moody Jem is acting, and asks Atticus, “’Reckon he’s got a tapeworm?’” (Lee 153), to which Atticus replies no, and that Jem is growing. This is dramatic irony because the readers understand that Jem is acting oddly because he’s growing, but Scout doesn’t know this until she asks Atticus about it. This quote supports the theme of Chapter 12 by showing when Jem started to grow distance from Scout, getting aggravated with her and telling her to stop bothering him, and shows how the children
“To kill a Mockingbird” is a novel in which Harper Lee, the author, presents forth various themes among them the unheard theme of social molarity. Harper dramatically uses a distinctive language through Scout, who is the narrator of the story to bring out the difficulties faced by children living in the southern Alabama town of Maycomb. Harper has dramatically displayed use of bildungsroman throughout the story; this helped to give the story a unique touch of a child’s view to bring out a different type of humor and wit. It has also used to develop and thrive the theme of morality in the society. Scout, being a child, she thinks the society is free of evil and it’s pure basically because she hasn’t been in contact with evil. Just like any other child she engages in several activities oblivious of the ramifications that follows. As a child she doesn’t understand the injustice that is enshrined the society and the glimmering racism.
Boo Radley, a character who never comes out of his house and sounds as scary as his name portrays an important theme in Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird. The classic is rich with themes and inspires many people to learn from these themes. One of the main themes is developed by Tim Johnson, the pet of Maycomb, Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of rape, and Boo Radley. The theme these characters are developing is that it is a sin to hurt or kill something that is not harmful.
In society, there are very few people who have the unwavering dedication to stand up for what they believe. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man was convicted and accused of a crime he didn 't commit, raping a white women, which is not in anyway tolerable in society. In Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird, the author used point of view and symbolism to acknowledge how the the several social divisions which make up much of the adult world are shown to be both irrational and extremely destructive.
Many end up standing behind Atticus and his decisions. People bring gifts to their house to show their respect for him defending Tom and forgetting ignorance. But at the same time, there are still some people that are against him. Bob Ewell will not forgive Atticus for the trial and threatens him in every way possible. Atticus still views all people in the same way he always has. In the trial he called out many people in the room for their ignorance. “‘Confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption--the evil assumption--that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber’” (Lee 204). Jem and Scout have both learned a vast amount of lessons in ignorance throughout the novel. Both can still be ignorant in their ways but have matured enough to learn to rise against it. Afterall, “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance” (Confucius).
Parents are always supposed to look out for the best interests of their child. Anne Tyler authored the short story “Teenage Wasteland” which depicts the story of a strained mother and son relationship between the character Donny, and his mother Daisy. Donny is a teenage boy who is struggling with his grades at school and is exhibiting poor behavior. His mother, Daisy is concerned with her son’s grades and behavior, however, she fails at getting her son the help that he requires. Told through the point of view of the character Daisy, Tyler uses irony to tell the story of a teenage boy who is failed by the adults in his life who are supposed to help him flourish, including his parents, a psychologist, and his tutor.
On a rainy day, a man at the bus stop asks for change. The two choices are walking past him avoiding eye contact, or giving him the change with a smile. Before even talking to this man, one may have already made the assumption that he is homeless or a drug addict wanting to buy his next high. But assumptions cannot accurately explain who he is or why he needs money. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee explores this idea of judging others before looking at the world from their perspective. Scout and Jem, although raised in a prejudice town, learn from their father Atticus that who a person is racially, does not define them as a person. Although the children make up stories about Arthur “Boo” Radley to pass the time in part one of the novel, in part two the Tom Robinson situation widens their eyes to the biased ways of their town. In the end, Jem and Scout are rescued by Boo Radley, the very person they feared during their childhood. Mockingbirds are used as a symbol in the novel to portray the fact that innocent and caring people are sometimes the most abused. The theme of presumptions and the dangers of judging others are explored through the childhood fable of Boo, the story of Atticus, and the trial of Tom Robinson; the mockingbirds.
To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on multiple significant ideas to highlight the main ideas of the novel. One of great magnitude is explained in chapter three of the novel when author Harper Lee simplifies the importance of being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to view each different perspective. “First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folk. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”
Oftentimes, Scout is confused as to why someone would treat her or anyone differently because of their gender, age, or skin color. For example, on Scout’s first day of school, she tells her teacher, Ms.Caroline, that she can read. Ms.Caroline is not happy about that, and tells Scout to stop reading. Scout is angry at Ms. Caroline, and says to Jem, “...that damn lady says Atticus been teaching me to read and for him to stop it…”(Lee 23). This shows how Scout is angry that Ms. Caroline is trying to change how she learns. Scout believes teachers should teach students at their level, even if it is more advanced then the teacher assumed a student would be. Also, Scout believes she should be free to learn at a faster pace and not be held back. Scout is confronted by Cecil Jacobs, who insults Atticus, at her school. Scout is confused by his actions, but rises to defend Atticus anyway. Scout yells at Cecil, “You can just take that back, boy!”(99) when Cecil slanders Atticus for his part in the Tom Robinson case. After Atticus explains to Scout why he was being called out, Scout is puzzled. She wants to know why people are angry just because Atticus is doing his job and defending his client. Furthermore, Scout is angry that anyone would insult her father for just doing his job and providing fair trial to everyone including blacks. Scout is always willing to defend herself and others
“Student” and “Crow Lake” these two articles both talked about the relationship between teachers and students. Wayman, the teacher in “Student”, he insisted on attracting his students’ interests, but it didn’t work out very well. Katie, the teacher in “Crow Lake”, she recalled a childhood experience during her class, it came out that students got bored by her voice. Wayman tried very hard on helping students learn better, but the students only care about their grades instead of learning things. Katie tried to teach her students, but there had no connections between Katie and the student. In both articles, the teacher showed no connections with students. However, Wayman didn’t give up on helping his students but Katie did walk away from her class.