Rossiter's TKAM Blog 2019

One of the most critical themes in TKAM is fake versus real. This is highlighted many times throughout the book, mainly towards the end. The obvious example was when Boo, whom most people in Maycomb described as an evil man, saved Jem and Scout from the real evil. The fake, or made-up version of Boo was from people who did not know him, which made him seem like a terrible monster that should be locked up. The real version, which came at the very end of the book, finally showed Boo as the warm, empathetic hero who saved the protagonist. Unfortunately, this realization came after too much fear had been instilled in most of the Maycomb community, so this possibly amazing person was not accepted. In the second to last paragraph, Atticus says, "Most people are Scout, when you finally see them" (323). He is talking about how most people are good when you get to know them and step into their shoes like Scout tried to with Boo. Through the precious moment when Scout was empathizing...

           While Jem and Scout were very brave on their walk home from the pageant, being able to survive  an attack from a grown man with a knife, they made multiple mistakes that nearly cost them their lives.  The first was Scout forgetting her shoes. One part of their journey has them walk by a large tree, which  roots spread out onto the sidewalk These roots had already made Scout trip on the way there. If Scout  had her shoes, as soon as Jem realized something was wrong he could've had them run right away, but  they could go no faster than a walk because of Scout's lack of shoes. The second was not accepting a ride.  They knew it was dark, and that they were alone, but they chose to walk. As the person offering the ride  came from the pageant, and Maycomb is a small town, the kids probably knew the man at least by name,  so they could've trusted him to take them home. The biggest mistake was probably Jem'...

Jem and Scout make a collection of mistakes on their journey home together.  Most of these mistakes would be insignificant by themselves, but grouped together lead to a large risk.  Jem and Scout where not necessarily being foolish in their action due to the fact that they had little to no reason to be worried of an attack in an area so close to home.  Previously, Atticus was quick to ensure them that Bob Ewell was not a threat, and they had no reason not to believe him. As Scout tells us, “Mr. Ewell found himself as forgotten as Tom Robinson” (284).  Yet calculated risk is not always correct. Darkness Jem should have been able to predict the darkness, seeing as he spends much of his time outside.  The lack of light could have caused many more issues beside being followed. As we see during both their initial and return trip, the siblings struggle with direction despite knowing the basic way.  This could have been an easy fix, as Jem could have brou...

         On their way back from the pageant, Jem and Scout made many choices that led to them being attacked by Bob Ewell. Firstly, after the pageant, Jem and Scout were offered a ride back to their home, but they decided to walk in the pitch black of the night. "You all want a ride home? ... No sir thank you, ... It's just a little walk". This made it much easier for Scout and Jem to be targeted by Bob Ewell. The only reason Ewell saw them in the dark of the night was because Scout's ham costume material had a shiny quality that made it visible. When Jem and Scout grew suspicious of the sound that was following them, Jem did not make them run to the house as fast as possible. He did not do this since Scout had forgotten her shoes at the school and it was closed. If Scout had more support on her feet, she would have been able to run with being worried about stepping on a rock or injuring her foot in any way. If they had taken up the offer for a ride home, or Sco...

In chapter 26 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee describes Scout learning about current events in class.  In her class, Harper Lee chose to include Cecil Jacobs talking about the inequalities Adolf Hitler is showing Jewish people.  After this, Miss Gates tells the class that Maycomb is will never be this way because Maycomb is a democracy, and Germany is a dictatorship.  In response to a question asked about why Hitler doesn’t like the Jews, Miss Gates says, “I don’t know Henry. They contribute to every society they live in, and most of all, they are a deeply religious people.”  Harper Lee included this conversation during Scouts class because it \shows how the town of Maycomb doesn’t realize that there are major inequalities going on in their own town. This passage relates to the conversation Aunt Alexandra was having with the ladies of the town because both conversations show how ignorant Maycmb really is.  Throughout these chapters, Sc...

At the end of Chapter 26, Scout’s third grade class is having a discussion about Hitler. Miss Gates, Scout’s teacher, asks the class what a democracy is, “‘Equal rights for all, special privileges for none,’ I quoted. ‘Very good Jean Louise, very good,’ Miss Gates smiled. In front of DEMOCRACY, she printed WE ARE A. ‘now class, say it all together ‘we are a democracy.’’”(281). This lesson is ironic because nothing in Maycomb has been democratic. The Ewells have a horrible reputation in Maycomb. The family has been labelled by the Maycomb way as “animals”. Atticus proved that Mr. Ewell and Mayella were lying during the trial.  The Ewells won the trial because they are white. If Tom Robinson was a white man, he would have won. The people of Maycomb chose to avoid the fact that the Ewells were lying and had a bad reputation, and they made a decision based on race. Scout notices this at the end of the chapter. She asks Jem, “Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and...