Misunderstanding in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Walter Cunningham arriving and presenting himself at the finch household poses some questions for Jem. Firstly she cannot understand the agricultural terms as Atticus and Walter discuss crops. “…but there’s another’n at the house now that’s field size.”
Jem takes this as Walter saying that he has employed someone to help with the cutting and thus asks him if he paid with a bushel of potatoes. Jem’s mindset of the Cunningham’s not paying money but paying in whatever ways they can comes from Atticus’ advice in the previous pages.
Jem’s amazement at how Atticus and Walter talked together like two men clearly comes from a misunderstanding of the Cunningham household. Her understanding of the Cunninghams are that they are not the sharpest tools in the shed. Her amazement is highlighted by the quote, “…he and
Atticus talked together like two men, to the wonderment of Jem and me.” Again, later on in the extract, Jem does not understand that Walter is equally as human as she is. Once again Harper Lee presents the facts with a little innuendo which touches on discrimination which is basically the heart of the book. “He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a
Cunningham.”
Another of Jem’s misunderstandings is the molasses incident. Again she cannot understand why Walter drenches his food in molasses. It probably will originate from Walter’s upbringing as a “farm boy”.
Molasses was probably cheap as chips on the farm where financial difficulty was rife. The author however employs a skilful phrase used in the South of America when describing Jem’s amazement, “…what the sam hill he was doing.”
Jem does however understand that Calpurnia is one coloured person who is educated. Jem realizes this by how good her grammar was during tranquility. Again there is a misunderstanding on Jem’s part. She generalizes by implies that most coloured folk are not educated. The author presents these facts in such a way that it touches a major theme of the book, misunderstanding.
As Calpurnia sent Jem off with a smack, Jem remarked that she’ll go and drown herself in Barker’s Eddy. This stresses the fact that Jem does not understand the ways and means of discipline. The author presents Jem almost as a headstrong girl who just cannot accept that this coloured lady could tell her what to do and how to present herself. Once again Miss Caroline Fisher comes into play. Her strict accordance to the rules of the new teaching system does not allow Jem to read or
write.
In the essay titled “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” written by John Holt and published in Reading for writers in 2013, Mr. Holt discusses why most children aren’t interested in reading. Mr. Holt spent fourteen years as an elementary school teacher. He believed classroom activities destroy a student’s learning ability. Mr. Holt never let his students say what they thought about a book. He wanted his students to look up every word they didn’t know. People can learn difficult words without looking them up in the dictionary.
Often in life people prejudge others, but their view changes as they get to know the person. In to kill a mockingbird by Harper lee Jem and Scout prejudge Boo Radley and their father Atticus. Jem and Scout believe their father has absolutely no skill. Throughout the book the kids get to see more of his skills. Boo Radley is considered a monster in Maycomb and Scout and Jem use the town’s judgment as their own. After learning more about Boo and getting to know him they realize he is opposite of what they thought. Because Jem and Scout are influenced by other people’s opinions they are able to learn from their mistakes and develop a new perspective on people.
The Ideas of Hypocrisy, Prejudice and Dignity in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird In Maycomb, the town in which Harper Lee's book 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is set, hypocrisy and prejudice are prevalent in most of its citizens. Although many of the characters morals are admirable, you soon realise that what people say and what people do are not always related. Mrs Grace Merriweather falls into this category. She is seen to be 'the most devout lady in Maycomb' and her eyes 'always filled with tears when she considered the oppressed' yet she is just as prejudiced to the black citizens or 'darky's' as the majority of the ladies of the 'Maycomb Alabama Methodist Episcopal Church South' are. Mrs Merriweather appears to be the most hypocritical character in this chapter.
The teacher implemented that this was ok. In the beginning of the year, Cassandra was able to use picture clues when she was having a difficult time reading a story. Ms. Perez helped Cassandra with her reading in different ways. Cassandra was able to become a fluent reading because the teacher used guided reading, partner reading and independent reading with Cassandra. Cassandra was able to make progress because she was influenced by practicing with books she knew and with books that she was not so familiar with. She also did activities that reinforced her reading like for example she was learning how to blend words. The way Ms. Perez worked with Cassandra really helped out Cassandra in the end of May because Cassandra was able to use for strategies when she read. For example, Cassandra was able to sound out words, self-correct herself when reading and use picture clues to sound out words. Also at the end of the school year, Cassandra was able to connect her reading with writing out
The 60s. They seem so long ago. The Vietnam War, the first GPS satellite, a time of 8-tracks and cassette tapes, they seem like so long ago. The 60s is also when To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was first published, a majorly successful book written about a majorly controversial topic. Lee sets out to tackle the topic by telling a story through the perspective of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, a nine year old girl. The story focuses on the events of the Finches, the Ewells, a trial of a black man, and Boo Radley, all in the town of Maycomb. Using these characters, Harper Lee shows how racism is something that is learned through society, and can be avoided.
Imagine you have to decide between a moral decision; a decision that will either ruin your life or will build up your reputation. Which would you choose? A character in To Kill a Mockingbird named Atticus Finch faces this dilemma. After Bob Ewell, another character in the novel, beats up Mayella, his daughter, he accuses a black man named Tom Robinson. Tom is then put in jail because of this and is almost attacked by a lynch mob. Now the question is: who is innocent, and who is guilty? The trial will take place in the hot summer of the 1930’s in an old courtroom. Atticus must now choose whether or not to defend Tom. Everyone agrees Atticus has been chosen to defend Tom Robinson. Some people believe Atticus should have tried his hardest to
2. In an identified video in ATLAS (Case #1583), the language arts teacher did a great job in using instructional strategies in her instruction. In the video, the students were comparing two different poems. The two poems were “The Barred Owl and “The History Teacher”. In the video, the main instructional
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. You know Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was misperceived at first. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, but after he led Santa’s sleigh, they loved him. Misperceptions like this happen all throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. As you read the novel you see original judgments made about characters transform into new conceptions and new understandings. Some characters twist your views of them on purpose, others do it involuntarily. To Kill a Mockingbird shows this happening over and over again. All you have to do is look for it.
Black and white, right and wrong; do decisions that simple and clear even exist? Does a decision ever mean gaining everything without giving anything up? Many characters in To Kill A Mockingbird are forced to make difficult, heart wrenching decisions that have no clear right answer. Harper Lee presents many of these important decisions in To Kill A Mockingbird as ethical dilemmas, or situations that require a choice between two difficult alternatives. Both of these alternatives have unpleasant aspects and question morals and ethics. A person is put in an awkward position, with their mind saying contradicting things. These dilemmas are presented in many different ways. The decisions in the beginning of the book are simple and can be solved quite easily, yet they are symbolic of later decisions. Other dilemmas place adult-like decisions in the lap of a child. One dilemma concerned a man burdened with the strict traditions of the South. Then there are the two biggest dilemmas, Atticus' decision to take the case and Heck Tate's choice between truth and the emotional well being of a man. Lee's ingenious storyline is established by these crucial and mentally arduous choices faced by the characters.
“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 it is a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 94). This quote, delivered in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, introduces the mockingbird which is incorporated symbolically throughout the novel. The mockingbird, in presenting its gifts of music and beauty, is the symbol of Atticus’s practice of altruism because he believes in society’s responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable and innocent.
Few months had passed since Boo Radley came out of his house and our incident with Bob Ewell. The gossip of his death did not exist any longer. Miss Stephanie Crawford had been telling Maycomb County how Bob Ewell’s body was dragged away with a garbage truck. Most women responded with the usual curiosity that only Miss Stephanie Crawford could arouse.
Examine the Themes of Innocence and Experience in To Kill a Mockingbird. Innocence is a time when a person has never done something; it is the first step in the journey from innocence to experience. The second step in this movement is experience and this is what is achieved after. a person has done something they have never done before or learns something they have never known before. This theme of growth from innocence to experience occurs many times in To Kill a Mockingbird and is one of the central themes in the first part of the novel, because it shows how Jem and Scout change and mature over a small period of time.
'Democracy,' she said. 'Does anybody have a definition?' ... 'Equal rights for all, special privileges for none' (Lee 248).
Ms. Caroline teaches only her way, which makes the education system flawed since most students learn different ways and not just the way a teacher thinks her students should learn. Ms. Caroline says “Your father does not know how to teach. You can have a seat now.” (Lee, 17). This is said on the first day Scout goes to school.
To Kill a Mockingbird portrays life and the role of racism in the 1930’s. A reader may not interpret several aspects in and of the book through just the plain text. Boo Radley, Atticus, and the title represent three such things. Not really disclosed to the reader until the end of the book, Arthur "Boo" Radley plays an important role in the development of both Scout and Jem.