Today in class we read chapter 21. This was a major chapter because we found out the verdict for the trail, but before this happens some other things happen. Atticus finds out from Calpurnia and a note from Aunt Alexandra that Scout, Jem and Dill are not at home. Atticus finds out from Mr. Underwood that the children were at the trail the whole time. Atticus tells the children to go home but they don’t leave without arguing with Atticus. They then agree that Jem, Scout, and Dill can come back after they eat dinner because they had seen the whole trail anyways. The children finish dinner after getting scolded by Cal and Aunt Alexandra.
When the children go back to the courtroom they see that noone has moved. This is because people in Maycomb have never seen a jury take this long to come to a verdict. Even Atticus though that the jury would not listen to what he said and come to their normal verdict of guilt. At the start of this chapter I really had no hope that the jury would take time to come to a decision but instead they would just say that Tom is guilty because of the social codes. When the jury took over a hour to come to a decision I started to think the jury started to look at the evidence and see that Tom's life was more important than social codes in the south. This hope lasted for only a short time because after over three hours the jury came to the decision that Tom was guilty.
There are two things that came into my after the verdict was read. The first thing being Tom’s three children. How will they be effected? For the year that Tom was in jail because he couldn’t pay the bail offered Tom’s family had a hard time living. There is only one scene in the book that talks about the Tom’s Family. This is at the church when they are taking donations for Helen because she can’t get a job. If Helen couldn’t get a job before the trail just think about what will happen after the death of Tom.
The only hope that I see for Helen is if she gets a job from Mr. Link Deas. Link is the boss of Tom and he stood up for Tom in court. This shows that he is not like everyone else in Maycomb, he is more tolerant. There is also a problem with this is that the only way for Helen to get to the job at Link Deas is to pass the Ewell’s house. This could cause some future problems. Tom’s three children will have to grief with the death of their father. This will be hard for them if they are younger and still have a large amount of childhood innocence.
They might not understand and their innocence will be taken away from them quickly in there life and which could cause trouble when they older. The second thin I thought of was the Ewell’s. Even though they won the case the truth is out because Atticus did his job. The Ewell’s most likely Bob might try to hurt Atticus to get revenge. When I thought about the Ewells I mostly though about all of the children. Bob will probably take his anger out on his children by getting drunk and beating them. Many people will be affected in a good and bad way after this trail.
This doesn't just go for Tom’s family and the Ewells but for the people watching the trail. The children watching the trial will start to understand hat is going on in Maycomb and start to lose their childhood innocence. The jury and the white audience will start to change there mind for the better and break codes in their society. The african americans will start to be filled with hope that the societal codes will be broken and racism will end. There will be three main adults affected Atticus, Bob, and Helen. The main people to be effected will be the children in the Robinson, Ewell, and Flinch family. With all of the suffering they have gone through I how they will handle it all?
When you said how Tom's children were affected, I also wondered that too, I really wish that Scout mentions them at least one more time in the book because after we heard about them in the church chapter, we haven't heard of them since, so I wonder. I didn't really think about Tom's wife Helen getting a job until. we talked about it in class today, so thank you for reminding me of that thought once again. I agree, and disagree with you when you said that the children watching will lose their innocence, I agree that they will lose it if they understand, because som were smaller than scout, and I doubt they are smart enough to understand anything said in the trial. I disagree because their parents might just say to their children that Mr. Gilmer is putting a very bad man in jail, so then the children wouldn't pay much attention because they would be caught up in the phrase that Tom is evil, so they won't pay much attention. Good job on your blog, I can see that you put in a lot of effort making this, and I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog comment. You had me thinking of effects of the trial that I have never really thought of, like what will happen to Tom's family, or what will happen to the Ewell children. You had great opinions here, and I enjoyed reading them. I also think that Mr. Link Deas will help Helen in some way, and I also think that others in Maycomb will also try to help Helen. I feel bad for the Ewell children as well. They have to suffer because of their drunk and horrible father, and I never really thought about that until you pointed it out in your blog post. I also think many children have lost their innocence because of this trial, and we know for sure that Jem, Scout and Dill have lost some of their innocence due to this trial.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you have a very good understanding and summary of the reading. You included how Jem, Scout, and Dill were caught and how long it had taken to deliver the verdict. You include a lot of your opinion in here. I also wondered how Tom's children and wife would be affected. I agree with you when you say you hope that Link Deas helps out Helen, Tom's wife.
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