Dec. 14, 2015

Prompt: Do any of the characters change as you've read? Explain why or why not. 

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

            One character that I have seen really change throughout the book is Scout. In the beginning of the book Scout hears things about Boo Radley. Scout is very scared of Boo. She thinks that he is a harmful person, and tries to avoid the Radley House. There were so many rumors about Boo that made all the children fearful of him. Scout, Jem, and Dill all participate mocking Boo, and even end up making a game out of him. Everytime she would get near his house, she would sprint past it. Later on in the book, Scout's fear of Boo begins to fade. She starts to mature and realize that all of those rumors were made up. When Boo puts the blanket over Scout when it was cold she realizes that he is harmless. Near the end of the book all of Scout's fantasies of meeting Boo have come true. After meeting Boo and walking him home, Scout now knows that he is normal person, and has nothing to fear about him. She has gone to being afraid of Boo to becoming friends with him.

            Another character that that changed a lot is Jem. Jem has gotten so mature over the years in the book. In the beginning of the book Jem would always play with Scout and Dill. They all would make up new games and have their adventures together. As the story goes on Jem seems to be more independent. He does not want to be involved with Dill and Scout's games. You can tell that Jem and Scout's relationship faded a little in the middle of the novel. Jem would be very serious at times, and acts like Atticus a lot at times. At the end of the book you can see how Jem truly does love Scout by protecting her when they were attacked by Bob Ewell. He held her hand through the way, and saves Scout by not leaving her behind. This shows that he has changed a lot, because in the beginning of the book he thought it was brave enough to touch the Radley house, but years later he is brave enough to protect Scout from getting hurt, and killed.

            Although there is only one specific part in the book where you can see Boo change it means a lot to the characters and readers. Boo has spent most of his life indoors without having any contact face to face with people as an adult until the end of the book. He has been isolating himself so much that the town has made terrible rumors about him. He seems to be too shy to come outside, so he just leaves gifts for the children, showing us that he is friendly. At the end of the book when he kills Bob and takes the kids home it is shocking to all of us that he had the courage to come outside. He could have just stayed inside and minded his own business, but instead he was brave enough to go outside, and even kill a man to protect the children. To me that is a very big change that a character has gone through. 

Blog Dec. 3, 2015

Prompt: Think about Dill and Francis. Note ways they are alike and ways they are different. From there, decide what relationship each has with Scout and what effect they have on her. 

To Kill A Mockingbird by Herper Lee

            I think the main similarity between Dill and Francis is that they always seem to find trouble. In chapter nine, page 111 (soft cover), Francis lies to his grandma saying Scout kept him in the kitchen and wouldn't let him out, so he wouldn't get in trouble for playing in the kitchen. Scout then gets in trouble while Francis got away with it for a little bit. A little later he keeps on picking on Scout and gets hit by her. He knew what he was saying and doing was wrong, but he still did it anyway and got what he deserved. In chapter 4, page 51, Dill decides it would be fun to act out the Radley family. The kids decided to keep the game a secret, because Dill and the kids knew it wasn't right to do something like that, but they did it anyway. Later on Atticus found out about their game and they got in trouble. Both Dill and Francis do things that are bad, and end up getting in trouble for it.

            There are many differences, but one that I noticed first is that Francis often repeats everything he hears from people while Dill always manages to make up stories with his wild imagination. In chapter 8, page 109 and 110, Francis says twice"...Grandma says...", showing he gets most of his words and stories from Grandma. It also shows that he is a follower and doesn't make up new ideas by himself, and just copies people. In chapter 1, page 9 and 10, you can see that Dill entertained Jem and Scout by acting out characters, and he made up new games to play. This shows that he makes up his own ideas instead of getting them from someone else. It also shows that he is creative and is able to make up things to do to entertain Scout and Jem. 

            The relation between Scout and Dill, and Scout and Francis are very different. In the book we know that Dill loves Scout and Francis hates Scout. In chapter 14, page 191, Dill says to scout that he wanted to have a baby with her, showing that he really likes her. In chapter 6, page 74, Dill remembers that he is engaged to Scout and kisses her. Dill really loves Scout while Francis hates her. In chapter 8, page 110, Fracis says mean things about Atticus, and Scout gets very angry. Atfer he gets her in trouble he smirks at her, showing he was glad she got in trouble. The relation is very different and Scout is effected by it in different ways. 

            Dill loves Scout, and so Scout loves him back, and Francis loathes Scout, so Scout does the same thing in return. Throughout the book you can see how Scout acts to people according to the way they treat her. Dill is a great friend to Scout and she really enjoys having him around. While Francis is like an enemy to Scout, because he always got her in trouble, so she always tries to ignore him. You can tell by their actions that Scout reacts to them in different ways. If someone is mean like Francis she will not like them and be mean to them, back. If someone if friendly and nice like Dill she will like them and be friendly back. Dill and Francis have a big effect on Scout, because it shows her that there are both mean and friendly people in the world, and she has to learn how to deal with them.