In this reading omne of things that stood out to me was how Jem thought of his father. At the end of chapter ten we find out that Atticus shot and killed Tim Johnson. Jem and Scout are clearly into guns because they both got a air rifle for christmas. When they see Atticus shooting the dog they are both very shocked because they both believed that Atticus couldn’t do anything in life and he was just a boring dad. Atticus kills the dog with one shot with little effort. At the end of the chapter Scout talks to Miss. Maudie about it and she says that Atticus was the best shot in town when they were growing up. The one thing that I find interesting about this comment is that she says that Atticus is a more civilized man and would only use a gun when it is needed.
This once again shows that Atticus is a good person that is respected in Maycomb but not everyone will like him. At the end of the chapter Scout plans on telling people at school about her dad but is stopped by Jem that says that Atticus didn’t want Scout and Jem to know about his gun skills. I think that Jem finally realizes that your character is more important that the things that you can do. Jem realizes that his father has high morals and integrity and that should be why they are proud to have him as a father. Scout is still to young to understand this of course. This is shown again in chapter 11 when Atticus tells Jem to be a gentleman to Mrs. Dubose. Jem respects his father and tries to do what he says because he is a good person. He then ends up getting angry at Mrs. Dubose when she insults Atticus and destroys all of camellia bushes. I think that this reading was important in the the story because this is when Jem realizes that your character is more important than what you can do in life because this only shows a small part of you.
I also find it interesting that Miss Maudie would say something like that. How Atticus is a civil man, and he would only use a gun when needed, I find that interesting, because shooting is talent of his, and instead of bragging about it, he just tells people to hush and not talk about it. I also think that Jem realized that your character is more important. He tells Scout not to tell anyone, because if Atticus wanted it to be told, he would have told them about his shooting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Atticus valuing respect over being liked. I think that was really good insight on Jem realizing that Atticus's high moral standard is something to take huge pride in. He even warns Scout she shouldn't and he could of told us if he wanted to, which leads me to believe their was significant growth in him when he has something huge to brag about but does not.
ReplyDeleteYou have a really good blog post. I agree with many of your thoughts and opinions that you wrote in your blog post. First of all, I find it very true when you mentioned about how Atticus is a civilized man, and he only uses a gun when it is needed. I really like and agree with you on how you think that Jem finally realizes that character is more important than the things that you can do. I also agree with the fact that Scout may just be too young to understand that character is more important than the things that you can do since she did want to tell many people about Atticus being Ol' One Shot. Overall, you had a really good blog post with great opinions and thoughts on what we read, good job.
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