Friday, December 2, 2011
To Kill a Mockingbird - Part I
We have completed reading Part I of the book. Lee intentionally separates the novel into two parts to separately establish the two main plots. What do you consider to be the driving force of the plot in Part I? What themes do you see emerging from the novel? Use textual evidence to support your insights. Your response must be at least 2 well-developed paragraphs in length.
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The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is separated into two parts because there are two major plots throughout the novel. The major plot in Part I is Boo Radley: Scout, Jem, and Dill are trying to get Boo Radley out of his house. They want him to come out and play, so they tried many different strategies to try and get him to come out. Dill politely writes Boo a note asking him to come out: "'we're askin' him real politely to come out sometimes, and tell us what he does in there-we said we wouldn't hurt him and we'd buy him an ice cream'" (47). Dill tried to come up with a way to not scare Boo so he would come out. Although this strategy didn't work, Boo Radley did eventually come out.
ReplyDelete"To Kill a Mockingbird" has many emerging themes in Part 1. One of the first themes I witnessed was compassion. Atticus is very careful with his children, and he tries to make Jem and Scout better people everyday. Atticus advises Scout: "'First of all,' he said, 'if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. 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'" (30). Atticus is telling Scout to consider situations in other peoples perspective, and see if she feels the same way. Compassion is very much based on being sympathetic, and being able to put yourself in someone else's place. One should be able to understand that persons actions, regardless of what they think of the situation. People feel sympathetic towards that person and feel their pain: Atticus is trying to teach this power to "climb into someone else's skin and walk around it" to Scout. Atticus is teaching his children to be compassionate towards other people, and learn to adapt other people's perspectives. Another theme that is clearly emerging is the bondage of family. Atticus, Jem, and Scout are a really close family. Atticus makes sure of this, and makes sure his children are growing up to be good people. Atticus is a very intelligent man and he is always giving his children the right advice, making the family bond grow closer and stronger. Not only does Atticus try to make a family bond, but so does Jem and Scout. Although Scout tries to keep it cool in public, she does whatever she can to protect her family: "After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn't fight any more, her daddy wouldn't let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn't fight publicly for Atticus, but the family was private ground. I would fight anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and nail. Francis Hancock, for example, knew that" (90). Scout understands was she has to do to protect her family, and she does it without hesitance.
Part I of To Kill a Mockingbird is driven by the children's fascination with Boo Radley. All of the children's adventures involving the Radley's and Boo's apparent special interest in them is directly linked to their growing up and learning lessons from their father. As Scout introduces the novel, she tells that Jem insists their story started "when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out" (3). Scout and Jem were always interested in the Radley place, but Dill convinces them to investigate further than they would have on their own. After Jem successfully touches the house on a bet by Dill, the children seem to metaphorically awaken someone inside. Scout relays: "We thought we saw an inside shutter move. Flick...and the house was still" (15). From here on, the children begin to torment Boo, trying to get him to come outside, much to the chagrin of Atticus. During one escapade, Jem loses his pants in the Radley yard, but he feels he must go back for them. The experience of going into the yard alone, at night, and finding the pants "folded across the fence" scares Jem straight for a while (58). Still, the children are connected to the Radley house through gifts they find in a knothole in a tree, but when Nathan Radley fills the hole, it breaks their connection. Jem cries, showing just how attached they felt to the mysterious Radley home.
ReplyDeleteThe most obvious theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is 'growing up'. Scout and Jem are both naive children at the beginning, but as the story progresses, they are taught many lessons about the world, mostly from their father. One example of this is: after an attempt at making Boo come out, Atticus relates to the children, "how would [they] like it if [he] barged in on [them] without knocking" (49). Because of the impending trial, the children are forced to mature faster than they normally would, also. Atticus tells his brother, "Scout's got to learn to keep her head...with what's in store for her these next few months...Jem's getting older and she follows his example a good bit now" (87-88). Another theme of the novel is courage, which by Atticus' definition is 'perseverance despite already having lost'. The children first see this in Mrs. Dubose's sober death, but it is obvious it will factor in to the Tom Robinson trial later on. Scout asks her father, "Atticus, are we going to win it?" and he replies, "No, honey" (76). Atticus courageously feels the need to take the case because of another theme: race relations and equality. Tom Robinson is a black man, but Atticus defends him because otherwise he "couldn't hold up [his] head in town...represent this county in the legislature...[or] even tell [Scout] or Jem to do something again" (75). Atticus believes everyone should have a fair chance in life. This is why he does not hunt because it would give an unfair advantage over the creatures he kills. Most residents of the town do not share his point of view on equality, though. He only hopes Jem and Scout can understand.
Lee separates "To Kill a Mockingbird" into two parts to establish the two different plots. The second part of the novel concerns Atticus's trial defending Tom Robinson. The first part of the novel, though, is mainly about the children's curiosity over Boo Radley. The children are constantly thinking about Boo. Dill first says to Jem and Scout, "Let's try to make him come out" (13). This idea fuels the first part of the book as the children try to discover all they can about him. Scout asks Miss Maudie, "Do you think Boo Radley's still alive?" (43). Boo is always on the minds of Scout, Jem, and Dill. The children even break into the Radleys' back yard to "peep in the window with the loose shutter to see if they could get a look at Boo Radley" (51). The quest to lure Boo out of his house is the driving force of the plot in Part I.
ReplyDeleteA theme emerging from the novel is growing up to act correctly. Atticus is constantly telling his children what is right to do and what isn't. When Jem makes a snowman that is making fun of Mr. Avery, Atticus makes him change what the snowman is wearing. He says to Jem, "You can't go around making caricatures of the neighbors" (67). Although it is possible that Mr. Avery would not even notice the snowman, Atticus does not want his children to grow up making fun of people they don't like. Later, when the children learn that Atticus is defending a black man in court, Atticus tells Scout, "You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat" (76). He wants his daughter to be in control of her emotions and not instantly fight someone who does not agree with her. It is not only Atticus that teaches the children how to act correctly, though. When Jem cuts the tops off of Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes, Mrs. Dubose punishes him herself. Jem tells his father, "she wants me to read to her" (105). The entire town is interested in the children gaining a good set of ethics as they grow up and leaning to act correctly.