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I chose the song Zero by Hawk Nelson for chapters 21-25.
This song resembles Helen Robinson when she found out that Tom was shot trying to escape from prison. “We’ve cried here for hours, and the hours turn to days. We know you regret this, leaving us here.” The lyrics here show what Helen and her kids were going through. They cried and sobbed over Tom’s death and wished that he was still here with them.
No one could really understand what Helen was going through. Sure, some people can relate to them, but no one really understands what the Robinson’s family is going through, unless they’re in the same situation. After losing her husband, losing part of the income, trying to support her whole family, and having the Ewell’s threaten her; Helen has got a lot to deal with. This song matches what’s been going through her head. “How can they possibly know what I’m going through? I feel like no one’s ever had to deal with the pain that I’m dealing with right now.”
There are so many tough trials ahead of Helen’s life, I hope she has the strength to last till the end.
In this section of our reading probably the most striking part of the reading was the knowledge of Tom Robinson’s death. I talked about this in my initial post already, but I think it is worthy of recovering. Tom was obviously innocent. To me, there is no doubt of his innocence. But, the towns people were cowardly racists, and sentenced him guilty merely because he was black! Even at that time I think that this is unacceptable behavior. This image shows a person climbing a fence. This is exactly how Tom Robinson attempted to escape. I think Tom had no hope, and thought he had no chance of surviving, since rape is a capital offense in Alabama at that time. He would have been sent to the electric chair. If i were him i probably would have done the same thing; at least having a small chance of survival rather than just certain death.
incredible photo post. 
In Chapters 21-25 a lot of things occurred that continued to make the story become interesting. The one thing I would like to talk about is the part where Mr. Ewell spat on Atticus’s face. Mr. Ewell not only spat on his face, but also cursed at him, and threatened to kill him. After everything, Atticus still remained calm.
I believe that Mr. Ewell was so cruel and unreasonable. What gives him the right to go around and disrespect people? After seeing this side of him, it shows how his family background is emerging from the inside. Mr. Ewell should be the one that’s convicted because I believe that he’s the one that hurt Mayella, not Tom Robinson.
I admire Atticus for being so calm and not fighting back. I was really amazed when Atticus said, “So if spitting in my face and threatening me save Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take” (Lee 292-293). This side of Atticus shows me that he cares for everyone’s well being, not only this own. He was willing to put up with something he didn’t deserve, than have it hurt someone else. I believe he’s one in a few people who are truly caring and innocent in Maycomb County. I hope people stop trying to put down Atticus for his beliefs, because everyone has their own and they shouldn’t be threatened by it. I also hope that Mr. Ewell will get what he deserves in punishment, because he’s done many horrible things toward other people.
In this section we see the affect Aunt Alexandra has had on the Finch Household. Aunt Alexandra really takes control of the Scout’s house in this part of the book. When Scout hears that Mr. Cuningham wanted to say that Tom Robinson was guilty of all crimes she wanted to invite Walter Cunningham over for dinner. But Aunt Alexandra said no because he was “trash”! This really affected me severely. Mr. Cunningham was the ONLY person in the town that did the right thing, and tried to free Tom of all accusations. Tom is obviously innocent and Mr. Cunningham is the only one in the town brave enough to stand up against what others think and go with what he believes is right. This is comendable in any situation. Aunt Alexandra should happily invite Walter to their dinner, because Mr. Cunningham is actually siding with Atticus, as well as with Tom. So she should automatically feel gratefull. This disturbed me that she referred to the Cuningham’s as “trash” merely because they were poorer than them.
Later in the book she had a missionary meeting at her house. To me it sounded that she really didn’t care much about being a missionary but more about having a proper and elegant tea party. But the worst was when Atticus delivered the tragic, horrific news of Tom Robinson’s death, Aunt Alexandra returned to her party and ACTED LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED. This shows how an evil person she really is, and could care less whether an innocent black man was killed, and that he is leaving a wife and children to suffer. If i was Atticus i would have immediatetly sent that woman out of my house!
and the part where jem like shared his chest hair was disturbing/sketchy
- Sammy P
The song I chose was, “Waiting” by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.
At the end of chapter 20, Atticus was giving his last speech to everyone in the courtroom. He mentioned that this case is merely between the differences of black and white. Atticus asks, “Aren’t we all human?” “Don’t we all make mistakes?” Atticus wants everyone to know the truth and the truth was that everyone lies, no one’s perfect; even people from different races. Together in that courtroom, everyone should believe that they were all equal to each other; that’s how the system will work best.
Ok, so all this relates back to the song I chose because in the lyrics of the song it stated: “Waiting for this life to change seems like it’s taking me forever and I can’t hold on.” With all the prejudice spreading and everyone looking down at others based on color, how long do you think people will stop thinking that way? I believe that this is what Tom Robinson and every other person treated wrongly goes through in their mind. When will things start to change? How long will it take for people to turn away from their evil thinking? How long will other people be able to hold on?
People need to realize no one’s perfect, no one’s the same, but all are equal to the other. They need to learn how to accept others and respect their way of life.
This image is pretty much exactly what I imagine the courtroom in Maycomb looks like. The book describes it large like this, with the judge at the head of the table. It also has the baclonies on the second level, which is clearly stated in the book as being there. This is where Jem and Scout sit during the Tom Robinson trial with other members of the African American community. Those chairs on the left is probably where the jury would have sat, and those tables would be where the defense the the prosecution would have sat as well.
Incredible Picture Post!
In this section of the reading it became even more apparant that this book is full of mockinbirds. To me, two main people seemed to fit the mockinbird persona in this section: Tom Robinson and Mayella Euell. Firstoff its obvious why Tom is a mockingbird. As Atticus shows in the courtroom bob and mayellas case is shaky and there evidence is flawed and slim as it was. Its pretty much word against word. But because the Ewells are white the townspeople automatically side with them regardless of what really went down. To me Tom has done nothing to deserve this; he seems like a very kind and hnest working man. His employer even sticks up for him in the court but still people doubt his innocence. Racists!!!
The second mockinbird is mayella. Although at first she seems evil and just out to hurt Tom you soon realize what she has to live with. Her family lives in a tiny house in the dump where they uave to share close living quarters. She has no friends. And there is a chance her father not only beats her but rape her. She was an innocent girl forced into prosecuting an innocent man by her father. I actually feel allmost as sorry for her as I do for tom. How about you?
I typed this all on an ipod so skillz.
There were so many interesting things that occurred in Chapters 17-20; I was totally amazed. The main thing I want to focus on, is the section where Atticus addresses the whole jury.
Atticus explains that this case is being fought around the issue of being black and white, but people shouldn’t be judged based on that. Everyone is human, everyone makes mistakes, not just a certain race or certain kind of person. Then Atticus goes on to explain how people are made equal in the courts that they serve. He explains how important a jury is to the court and how important people are, also to the court. In conclusion, Atticus tells the people of the jury to do their duty and make their decision.
The way Atticus summed up his final words really made me think about everything that was going on, not only in this book, but all around this world. When I look around me, I see a bunch of people blaming others for their mistakes and I still see people who are being judged by their race. This concept of equality in the human race seems to be forgotten easily. I think that Lee was trying to catch people’s attention, reminding everyone that we are all human. We all make mistakes. What gives us the right to judge others or prosecute them based on their lifestyle, race, religion, etc? Why can’t we just accept people for who they are?
The song I chose for this section was The One Thing I Have Left, by Hawk Nelson.
The reason I think that this song is perfect for this section is because it resembles the situation Atticus is facing. My interpretation of this song is that a person is giving all they got at their very last breath. “And you can take the one thing I have left….but you can’t take who I am.” This is exactly what Atticus is doing. He’s going to try his very best to defend the case of Tom Robinson, no matter what people say or do. Atticus is going to stick by his morals and there is no one who can change his decision, because this is what he believes is right.
This song also applies to Tom Robinson and the trial he will be encountering. I believe that Tom did not commit the crime everyone believed that was the truth. “We point the finger, think everyone else is to blame.” These lyrics totally describe what the townspeople are doing. They are pointing the finger at Tom, making him the one to blame, when in fact, he might have not done anything to deserve this punishment.
This scene illustrates perfectly how the Jail scene would probably have looked. The man in suit is Atticus, and Scout and Jem are standing next to him. The angry mob surrounds the family, with the jail bars in the background. As you can imagine this part of the story was probably the most frightening, especially for Atticus. He doesn’t know how angry the mob is, and what they will do to kill Tom Robinson. He must also be concerned for his children. They could have been hurt too! Thankfully for Tom and the Finches, the mob didn’t carry out their plan. 
Best Picture ever!
In this section you truly see the character of Atticus. At this point in Atticus’s life he is being ridiculed and looked down upon by most of the entire town. Very few have sympathy for Atticus, even though he is just doing his job. Which by chance is defending a black man. Imagine if this same sentiment was alive today. Racism would be rampant in the United States and situations with multiple races would be very tense. But this is little compared to what Atticus did one night.
Atticus knew Tom Robinson was going to be held in the county jail one night so he decided to sit outside of the jail to watch over Tom. A pretty big mob actually came to the prison and were going to lynch Tom. The men probably would have continued if Jem and Scout hadn’t been there. Mr. Cunningham called off the mob when he realized Scout recognized him and was ashamed.
To me this shows that Atticus is a very good father. Although he may not be the most caring and warmest, he stands up for what he believes in, protects his children, and ignores others negative criticism. He gives the children a very good example of how to behave. I wonder how their life would be different if their mother was alive.
All in all Atticus is super.
Best post ever
As we get deeper and deeper into this story, there are more and more people who are turning against Atticus. The townspeople obviously made it clear that they don’t want Atticus defending Tom Robinson.
During one night, when Atticus was at the jailhouse, Jem, Scout, and Dill searched for him because they thought he might be in danger. When they spotted where Atticus was, they also saw a bunch of men coming out from their cars. After a while, Scout broke into the circle of people, and she was later on accompanied by Jem and Dill. Atticus told Jem to take them away, but Jem stood his ground no matter what Atticus said. Scout also spoke up with courage, and talked to the circle of people, and they eventually went away.
After reading this section of the book, I thought that these 3 kids were really courageous. They rushed into the crowd of people not knowing what might happen.
I was surprised that Jem didn’t head home when Atticus instructed him to, but I think that Jem’s motive was to protect Atticus no matter what. Scout also surprised me with her speech about entailments. This seemed to catch everyone’s attention and made their mouths drop open. I was a little confused at this section because I didn’t understand why this made everyone so stunned. But it seems that Scout managed to get them away, so I’m glad that she took some action and spoke up. In my opinion, Atticus should be really thankful that his children were there to defend him. I know that these people aren’t going to let go of Atticus, and his trial in court is going to be very difficult to overcome.
This picture shows, Mrs. Dubose lying in her bed, while Jem sat down next to her to read her a book; with Scout at his side.
The reason I chose this picture to support chapters 10-12, is because this is the starting point where Jem started to change himself. If it wasn’t for the experience Jem had with Mrs. Dubose, I don’t think he would have matured so quickly. I believe that reading to Mrs. Dubose, allowed Jem to tolerate her in ways he didn’t think was possible.
In my opinion, the whole point of reading to Mrs. Dubose was to teach Jem the valuable lesson of respect. Even though Jem acted out when Mrs. Dubose insulted Atticus, he no longer did so when he went to visit her again. This showed me that Jem gained the knowledge of respect when he began reading each day, after school, for a little more than a month.
Well as you can see racism is a big part of this book. It occurs a lot throughout the book. For example, in chapter 12, Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to church, when Lula insults them. I think that Lula should not blame the kids for something their father is doing. They don’t have anything to do with it. And that if she has something to say, she should tell it to Atticus. What I’ve noticed is that a lot of people say things about Atticus behind his back. They always say horrible things to the kids about their father, but they never say it to his face. It sucks that he has to find out these things from his children. Jem and Scout should not have to deal with this. The other thing I don’t like it that Atticus doesn’t do anything about it, either.
Another example is when Mrs. Dubose insults Atticus. If I were Jem I would of probably done the same thing. I would not have broken my sister’s baton though because she didn’t do anything to me. I would of also said something back to Mrs. Dubose, cuz I can’t hold things in like that, but that’s just me.
” Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why its a sin o kill a mockingbird”
This quote basically gives the entire theme of the book in three sentences. People try and hurt innocent people because they are so good. This symbol of a mockingbird is applied to people in this story. There are two major examples so far. Boo Radley is the first. Everyone makes him out to be this sketchy, mean, crazy old man when really is is just a misunderstood, shy individual. The other is Mrs. Dubose. See my other post for more information on why she is a mockingbird. I have feeling that there will be other “mockingbirds” in this book, like Tom Robinson.
Best quote post ever. but not as good as a normal post
- Sam Palmer
In Chapter 10, when Scout and Jem notice that Tim Johnson is looking a little sick, they run back home and alert Calpurnia of their discovery. After Calpurnia verifies that Jem was telling the truth, she lets everyone know of the situation. She called Mr. Finch and even ran to Mr. Radley’s place to pass on the word that a mad dog was coming his way. When Mr. Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb County, and Atticus arrived, they waited for the right time to make their move on the dog. In conclusion, Atticus ended up killing Tim Johnson with one shot out of the rifle. It turns out, people used to call him Ol’ One Shot because he was the deadest shot in Maycomb County.
Somehow I wasn’t surprised that Atticus had this kind of talent in him. It seemed to me that Atticus is a well-rounded man, who abides to the rules he sets out for himself. I believe that Atticus can overcome the many obstacles standing in his way. He does what he feels is right and he respects others for their beliefs too. For example, when people continue to insult him, calling him all these harsh names, Atticus tells Scout and Jem to stick their heads up high. Atticus learns how to deal with people because he understands that they are entitled to their own beliefs as he is also. I hope that Scout and Jem learn how to respect Atticus and his method of judgment. They should take into consideration the instructions Atticus gives them, because as time passes, situations are bound to get worse, and the two of them need a strong hand to guide them through the tough roads coming their way.
In this section of the reading the most striking part of it was the chapter concerning Scout and Jem’s experience with Mrs. Dubose. When walking down their path Mr.’s Dubose yelled at them: “Atticus isn’t any better than niggers and trash he works for,” which of course offended the children. If someone was talking about my dad like that I would also be pretty mad. Jem in like a fit of rage destroyed her flowers.
When Atticus learns of this, he comes up with a pretty unique punishment. Having to go and read to Mrs. Dubose. Obviously this is better than a lot of other things Jem could be doing, but it seemed pretty pointless because Mrs. Dubose always fell asleep during the reading. She seemed to be a pretty old and unpleasant lady and probably wasn’t the best person to spend time with. Then the real interesting part happened. Mrs. Dubose dies, (that wasn’t the interesting part; I’m not that weird) and Jem and Scout learn some new information. She was struggling with a morphine addiction and the reading was helping her fight the need for morphine. This is another one of Harper Lee’s “mockingbird” character; someone who may seem like a danger or annoying person when in reality they really are a normal, harmless character.
This interested me. This is probably the very best post ever. Ever!
Why do you think Scout is being neglected? I think she is being neglected because she is a girl. I also think that Jem and Dill think that she might snitch or tell on them. Jem and Dill might also think she is too much of a softie and a scary-cat. Dill made a commitment to her and is neglecting her because of Jem. Jem is also controlling Dill a little bit, I don’t know if it’s on purpose or not. Both Jem and Dill are acting like jerks by neglecting her. I also think its kind of cute that Dill likes Scout.
Jem and Dill are obviously doing something wrong, that they did not want Scout to know about it. I still wonder what they did while Scout was at Miss. Maudie’s house.
The song I chose for this section is, “Who I am Hates Who I’ve been” By: Relient K.
I believe that this song resembles Uncle Jack when they discuss the incident with Scout and Francis.
When Scout got into a fight with Francis, she was severely punished by Uncle Jack. Later on in the chapter, Uncle Jack tries to work things out with Scout again. Scout explains to Uncle Jack that he was being unreasonable and unfair when he didn’t listen to Scout’s side of the story. After hearing that Scout was only trying to defend her father, Uncle Jack began to realize where he went wrong.
This situation relates back to the song because the lyrics say that “I’m sorry for the person I became, and I’m willing to take the second chance you give me, who I am hates who I’ve been…” Uncle Jack was trying to fix his unfair judgment with Scout, by understanding where he went wrong.
I interpreted that this song was saying a person should change and turn from their wrong ways. This is exactly what Uncle Jack did, he realized his false accusation and received a second chance by Scout, and he didn’t let her down.
This is what i imagine Jem and Scout were confronted with when they looked outside their house. This house is what a typical Southern home in that time would look like with its classic southern porch and wood construction. The fire was extremely devestating to miss maudie’s house and by the looks of it, this house will also be pretty much demolished. It is quite tragic that her entire home was destroyed in this way, and would mess up any of our lives a lot.
second best post ever
After the fire that struck Atticus’s neighborhood, Scout finds out that there’s a brown wool blanket wrapped around her back. Atticus was the first to notice it and he thought that the boys had moved from the spot they were told to stay in. But after Jem and Scout clarified that they hadn’t moved, Atticus told them that it was alright. After that, Jem started to freak out, and he poured out the truth of everything that happened, from the knot-hole to the pants, and all the secrets that were kept hidden. Atticus reassured Jem that everything would be fine and he told Scout, that she should thank “him” for covering her up. When Scout found out that Boo Radley put the blanket around her, she felt sick and out of place while Jem teased her.
I believe that it really was Boo Radley who put the blanket around Scout because no one else could have. Everyone was trying to stop the fire, including Mr. Nathan, so that only leaves Boo Radely in his house where Jem and Scout stood.
I wonder why Boo Radley did this kind act toward Scout. He’s been locking himself in his house for the longest time, but all of a sudden he comes out and places a blanket around Scout? I have a feeling that Boo has been keeping an eye on Scout and Jem, and somehow he wanted to make contact with them.
When Jem stated, “if you’d just turned around, you’da seen him.” I began to think that what would have happened if Scout and Jem really did see Boo? Would they try to talk to him, ask him why he’s been staying in his house all along, or just ask him a bunch of questions altogether? There’s also a possibility they could have ran away because they were so shocked and freaked out that Boo was actually facing them.
I believe that sometime soon, Jem and Scout will actually get to meet Boo and something good may come out it.
~Vivian Lee
In the first post I did i discussed the mystery/extreme sketchyness of Boo Radley. In this section of the book my thoughts have changed. Boo Radley actually seems to be looking after Scout and Jem now. Jem and Dill’s curiousity got the better of them, and they ended up adventuring again into the Radley Place. Unsurprisingly the kids were caught and they ran away. For some weird reason, Jem ended up losing his pants ( must be pretty hard to do!). Later though Jem returned to the Radley place to look for his pants, and they were actually repaired and nicely folded over the fence. A little weird…
But the plot thickens. When Miss Maudie’s house is on fire someone places a blanket on Scout. This is assumed to be Boo Radley. Which is a little freaky that he is sneaking around leaving blankets on little girls. The gifts in the knothole are ALSO assumed to be from Boo Radley. I would be pretty worried if i was Atticus that this man has so much intrest in my children
There is another point i have to make
In this section there were some derrogatory words for African American people. I could see why this book is sometimes banned from schools because of these words. Although i personally have to major problem with it, i could see how others could be very upset
- Sam Palmer
TKAM Quote (1-4)
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”
Atticus tells this to Scout because she doesn’t understand why Miss. Caroline told her not to read. Scout sometimes cannot understand why people are the way they are. Atticus basically tells Scout to put herself in Miss. Caroline’s shoes. You also never know what they’ve been through or their beliefs that had to do with this.
This quote also relates to the fact of not judging a book by its cover. Atticus is also trying to say to not judge Miss. Caroline because of one thing she said. He’s trying to say to try and get to know her and find the reason behind not learning to read.
\”Long and Lonely Road by Hawk Nelson\”
I chose the song, “Long and Lonely Road” by Hawk Nelson.
The reason I chose this song to represent this section of the book, is because it lays out Scout’s journey throughout this book. While the story starts, Scout already gets on the bad side of her teacher and there will be a long journey coming her way to overcome the negative issues between them. As the story continues, I find out that Scout has to learn a whole new school system, the Dewey Decimal System. It will be another long road to come when Scout starts to explore her findings in the knotholes by Mr. Radley’s house. Who knows what else Scout can find and what these items can lead to? Another thing I noticed is that Scout somehow knew there was a person laughing at him in the Radley’s house. She doesn’t say anything to anyone, so she’s taking on a journey to discover what is really behind the story of that house.
Scout is taking many journeys through this book and she starts off facing many of them on her own, because it’s what she has to deal with herself. For example, she needs to find how to deal with her teacher, deal with the new school system, and deal with the Radley’s house.
As To Kill A Mockingbird, starts out I notice that there are major incidents dealing with Mr. Radley’s son, Boo Radley. Jem told a story he heard from Miss Stephanie (the all around gossiper), that Boo stabbed Mr. Radely with a pair of scissors, when cutting and pasting items from the Maycomb Tribune into his scrapbook. Then Mrs. Radely ran out screaming that Boo was going to kill everyone. When the sheriff arrived he saw that everything seemed normal and Mr. Radley turned out not blaming Boo for anything because he knew that Boo wasn’t a bad person. Even though Boo did end up sealed in a courthouse basement, he was eventually sent home.
I couldn’t help but wonder if this is a rumor or the truth. Jem states he got all his information from Miss Stephanie Crawford, who claims, “she knew the whole thing” (13). But how can Miss Stephanie be so sure if this story is true or not? It’s amazing to see how society, somehow, still works the same. From the setting of this book in Alabama/1930/40s to modern day times, there are still the spreading of many rumors that change from one ear to another. How can anyone know if something they heard is accurate or not? The truth is, they can’t.
It seems to me that Harper Lee is trying to show that no matter where and when, society will still function in a similar way. No one knows much about Boo, but it seems to a lot of people that this story fits his description because of his family background and his history of hanging out with the wrong crowd. Isn’t this how people tend to view others when they hear about certain information? I hope to see the real truth come out behind Boo Radley’s story.
This is a picture of the famous courthouse portrayed in the book. Few people actually know that Maycomb is actually based off of a real town called Monroeville in Alabama. This is Harper Lee’s hometown, and her friend Truman Capote was also born there. I have actually driven past it and have seen other pictures of the town. The town has some very similar characteristics of those discussed in the book such as this courthouse, the town square and even the house that Scout lives in. The residents of the town actually put on plays renacting scenes from the book every year. And the author Harper Lee actually lives there as well, although she is extremely reclusive and rarely comes out for any press exposure. this is the best post ever
In the book we are reading, To Kill a Mockingbird, the main characters Scout, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill are all very afraid of a character called Boo Radley. And i don’t blame them. From the description given in the book he sounds like a very sketchy/shady character. His past isn’t known that very well but the rumor that he stabbed his father with scissors in the thigh it pretty scary. Most people in the town don’t trust him at all and there are plenty of rumors going around the town about this mysterious character. If i lived in their town I would definetely be concerned for the saftey of my kids.
Currently Boo Radley seems to the be the antagonist in the book, but as the book continues his position may change. Personally i think he is the most interesting character. He adds mystery and creepyness to the book.
Hopefully he turns out to be good with no ill-intentions
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