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.