Vocabulary: Piety The quality of being religious or reverent. Everyone during this time was very religious Pg. 4 Strictures A restriction on a person or activity. The restriction on people’s everyday actions Pg. 4 Impotent Unable to take effective action; helpless or powerless. The people were helpless to their situations Pg. 4 Taciturn (Of a person) Reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little. The people had little to say in their situations so many people were very taciturn Pg. 5 Ambled Walk or move at a slow, relaxed pace.
They couldn’t do much so they just sat and wondered slowly waiting for the government to do something Pg. 6 Tyrannical Exercising power in a cruel or arbitrary way. The blacks of this time were doing more for their freedom than everyone else in the country for their rightful jobs Pg. 7 Eccentric (Of a person or their behavior) Unconventional and slightly strange. Though the children were affected they acting more ‘normally because this is all the have ever known in their lives Pg. 10 Predilection A preference or special liking for something; A bias in favor of something.
The children in this part of the country don’t really know what it’s like to be without because the whole town is so small everyone knows each other or at least their family name. Pg. 11 Apprehensive Anxious or fearful that something bad or unpleasant will happen. Everyone was still taking sides on the North or the South thought the war is over Pg. 21 Indigenous Originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native. Though no one was a native to the down the teacher was suddenly different because of what side of the state she was raised in Pg. 21
Figurative Language: Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when | first knew it. The author is describing the small town of Maycomb (in Scout’s perspective) as a tired old town, which justifies that back in the previous years the town had more life/ excitement roaming through the streets. Now the town has been worn down to what it is today, this could be because of the Reconstruction Era after WWII which was during the Great Depression. Pg. 6 “But what in the Sam holy hill did you wait till tonight? ” The expression Sam Hill was used as a replacement for “hell” back in the early 1900s.
Southerners would oftenly use this term to describe their agitation/grief without having to use open profanity near their children. This led to the children themselves speaking this phrase in their sentences with and without them knowing what it actually meant. Pg. 69 Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts. When Atticus told Scout that if she deleted the adjectives she would have the facts, he could be broadcasting a numerous amount of messages. Atticus is attempting to describe to Scout is that Jem is exaggerating with how he contemplates the purpose of school.
He (Atticus) isn’t trying to make Scout feel as if Jem is giving false messages, he’s just showing Scout that she shouldn’t take his words to heart. Another message that Atticus could be describing to Scout is that if you have your mindset on the belief of everyone’s opinion, that you wouldn’t be focusing on what the real world has to offer you. That you’d be forever lost in everyone’s opinion(s) on the world if you don’t focus on your own personal opinion. Which restates the purpose/ meaning of this figurative language as “Don’t take certain things to heart. ” Pg. 9 “You’re more like Atticus than your mother,” he said. “You’re also growing out of your pants a little. ” When Uncle Jack states that Scout is “growing out of her pants a little”, he merely means that she’s learning and adapting to the world as it is. This expression is oftenly similar with the expression of “getting too big for your britches”. Scout begins to become arrogant and outspoken. Uncle Jack’s meaning behind this expression is that she’s growing up and learning (at a fast pace) adult profanity without any consent on why she states the words with such a common usage. Pg. 105
Character Development / Adaptations: Scout Scout is a very unusual little girl, both in her own qualities and in her social position. She is unusually intelligent (she learns to read before beginning school), unusually confident (she fights boys without fear), unusually thoughtful (she worries about the essential goodness and evil of mankind), and unusually good (she always acts with the best intentions). Scout is portrayed by the rest of her family to be unusual for being a tomboy in the prim and proper Southern world of Maycomb. Jem Scout’s brother and her best friend at the beginning of the ovel. Jem is a typical American boy, refusing to back down from dares and fantasizing about playing football with other sports. He’s four years older than Scout in the story. He slowly begins to separate himself from her (Scouts) games, but he remains her close companion and protector of the dangers that surround their family. Atticus As one of the most prominent citizens in Maycomb, Atticus is well off in a time of widespread poverty. His intelligence and gentleman-like behavior beholds Atticus to be respected by everyone, including the extremely poor.
He functions as the moral backbone of Maycomb, a person to whom others turn in times of doubt and trouble. But the standards he sets, that makes him so admired by the townsfolk begins to drive the town of Maycomb against him. Unable to abide the town’s comfortable ingrained racial prejudice, he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man. Arthur “Boo” Radley A reclusive man who never sets foot outside his house, Boo is widely thought of in the imaginations of Jem, Scout, and Dill. He could be portrayed as a powerful symbol of goodness swathed in an initial shroud of creepiness.
He was told to be an intelligent child who was traumatized mentally/emotionally by his cruel father, which led to the stabbing of his father in the leg with a pair of scissors). Arthur “Boo” Radley provides an example of the threat that evil poses to the innocent and the goodness in the world. Setting Reconstruction Era/Great Depression …. until well into the twentieth century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his younger sister went to Boston to study medicine. Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama.
Pg. 5 United States of America …. until well into the twentieth century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his younger sister went to Boston to study medicine. Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama. Pg. 6 Montgomery, Alabama … until well into the twentieth century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read law, and his younger sister went to Boston to study medicine.
Atticus’s office in the courthouse contained little more than a hat rack, a spittoon, a checkerboard and an unsullied Code of Alabama. Pg. 5 Maycomb County Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. Pg. 6 Finch’s Home When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries (within calling distance of Calpurnia) were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south. Pg. 4 Plot of the Novel: The Plot for the first part of the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” could be described as intriguing just as it was slow-paced.
The storyline is based on a young girl, by the name of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, whose childhood takes place in the southern parts of Alabama in Maycomb County. Crucial Textual Moments: Dill Arrives When Dill arrives in Maycomb spend the summer with his Aunt Rachel, Scout gains her new best friend–and a boy with whom she will share her first kiss If we did not have Dill in the novel, then Jem wouldn’t have been dared to go to the “Boo” Radley house to touch the house. He wouldn’t have gotten the glimpse and courage to make “Boo” Radley appear.
Scout wouldn’t have been pushed towards the “Boo” Radley house in the tire, which would lead to Scout never hearing the person laugh from inside the house. The House Fire Scout enjoys her first snowfall and building her first snowman–“The Morphodite Snowman”–with Jem, but the day turns tragic when Miss Maudie’s house burns down. Scout also discovers that she has a new friend: Unnoticed, Boo Radley has placed a blanket on Scout’s shoulders to keep her warm. If we did not have Miss Maudie’s house burning down then we uldn’t have been openly introduced to the realistic presence of Arthur “Boo” Radley.
When Scout aem were standing in front of the Radley place to observe which way the smoke was blowing from the house-fire, Arthur “Boo” Radley had placed a blanket around the two children. This gave Scout and Jem hope/ proof that there was such a person by the name of Arthur “Boo” Radley. One-Shot Finch This chapter is important because it introduces Miss Maudie’s explanation about it being a “sin to kill a mockingbird,” and reveals to the children (em and Scout) that Atticus has a secret talent they never knew of. A local hound is spotted in the local area which appears to have gone mad.
The sheriff over Maycomb County gave a rifle to Atticus, who places one bullet between the dog’s eyes. Miss Maudie explains to Jem and Scout that as a boy, Atticus was the “deadest shot in Maycomb County,” often known as “One-Shot Finch. ” If we did not have this moment in the novel, we would not know the importance of why Atticus doesn’t agree with weapons and that there was once a time when he was called “One-Shot Finch”. This gives some background on Atticus’ younger years. Scout and Jem began to conjecture about their father’s past on who he used to be, and what happened to the person commonly known as “One-Shot Finch”.
Mrs. Dubose Jem is punished for destroying old Mrs. Dubose’s camellias by reading to her for a month (plus another separate week). When the old lady passes away shortly after Jem completes his punishment, Atticus reveals that she has been acting under such a manner with her seizures/strange actions from a longtime morphine addiction. She was the bravest person he ever knew, Atticus tells Jem. This strikes Jem to ponder the actions and history of people before halting to his various conclusions. If Mrs.
Dubose didn’t pass away, Jem would have never known her backstory or how Atticus looks up to her even though Jem views her as an old/cranky woman that we were introduced Jem wouldn’t have been given the lecture from Atticus that he had received over Mrs. Dubose’s backstory. Inequality and Injustice: Class Bias Class plays a huge role in the novel because the higher the class of the family the more respect that the lower the class the less respect they get E. x. When Scout is in school and everyone knows why he won’t accept the quarter and everyone but the teacher knows why because of his family name.
Racial inequality Racial inequality plays a minor role in the first part of TKAM, because there are very few black characters introduced into this part of the story E. x. The only main black/colored character is the cook/maid Calpurnia Gender Role Gender role plays a slightly bigger role than racial inequality but still not very big. E. x. Close to the beginning of the novel Jem told Scout that she needed to start acting more like a “lady” since she was a tomboy and never acted like a prime/proper female.
