TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Transcription

1 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Characterization Journal Fill out the chart below for Jem from To Kill a Mockingbird. Use quotes with page references from the book. Make sure to have at least FIVE quotes for each category. JEM FINCH What does this character look like? Arm Broken: Chapter 1 (3) When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. Hair length: Chapter 1 (7) Jem brushed his hair back to get a better look. Brown hair: Chapter 7 (60) The boy had shorts on and a shock of soapy hair. I looked up at Jem. A point of straight brown hair downwards from his part. Jem s hair, eyes and facial features: Chapter 15 (152) Jem s soft brown hair and eyes, his oval face and snug-fitting ears were our mother s, contrasting oddly with Atticus s graying black hair and squarecut features, but they were somehow alike. Bump on his head: Chapter 28 (264) He s got a bump on his head just like yours, and a broken arm. What does this character do or say? Radley porch: Chapter 1 (15) Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful. Asking Scout to leave him alone at school: Chapter 2 (16) Jem was careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, I was not to approach him with requests to enact a chapter of Tarzan and the Ant Men, to embarrass him with references to his private life, or tag along behind him a recess and noon. I was to stick with the first grade and he would stick with the fifth. In short, I was to leave him alone. Response to Mrs. Dubose: Chapter 11 (101) Come on Scout, he whispered. Don t pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Mrs Dubose s flowers: Chapter 11 (103) He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves. Jem telling Atticus about Dill: Chapter 14 (141) Dill s eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. Atticus, his voice was distant, can you come here a minute, sir? Jem refusing to leave Atticus with the lynch mob: Chapter 15 (153) I ain t going, was his steady answer to Atticus s threats and requests Jem s optimism/innocence: Chapter 17 (178) Jem seemed to be having a quiet fit. He was pounding the balcony rail softly, and once he whispered, We ve got him. Guilty verdict: Chapter 22 (212)

2 It was Jem s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. The roly poly: Chapter 25 (238-9) Why couldn t I mash him? I asked. Because they don t bother you, Jem answered in the darkness. He had turned out his reading light. Jem s intelligence/resourcefulness: Chapter 28 (255) I can tell we re under the big oak because we re passin through a cool spot. What does this character think or believe? Early beliefs about Boo Radley: Chapter 1 (13) Boo was about six and a half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that s why his hands were bloodstained if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eye popped and he drooled most of the time. Thought s on Atticus s nature: Chapter 10 (99) Naw, Scout, it s something you wouldn t understand. Atticus is real old, but I wouldn t care if he couldn t do anything I wouldn t care if he couldn t do a blessed thing. / Atticus is a gentleman, just like me! Response to Mrs. Dubose: Chapter 11 (101) Come on Scout, he whispered. Don t pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Thoughts on guilty verdict: Chapter 22 (212) It ain t right, he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting. The roly poly: Chapter 25 (238-9) Why couldn t I mash him? I asked. Because they don t bother you, Jem answered in the darkness. He had turned out his reading light. Bob Ewell s attack: Chapter 28 (261) Run, Scout run! Jem screamed. What do other characters say about Jem? Scout: Chapter 1 (13) In all his life, Jem had never turned down a dare. Scout: Chapter 4 (39) Jem was a born hero. Atticus: Chapter 8 (67) I didn t know how you were going to do it, [Atticus] said to Jem, but from now on I ll never worry about what ll become of you, son, you ll always have an idea. Mrs. Dubose: Chapter 11 (101) Don t you lie to me! Jeremy Finch, Maudie Atkinson told me you broke down her scuppernong arbor this morning. She s going to tell your father and then you ll wish you never saw the light of day! If you aren t sent to the reform school before next week, my name s not Dubose! Playing hooky, I suppose. I ll just call up the principal and tell him! Atticus: Chapter 11 (104) I never thought Jem d be the one to lose his head over this thought I d have more trouble with you. Scout: Chapter 18 (184) His maddening superiority was unbearable these days. Atticus: Chapter 23 (220) If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man. Scout: Chapter 25 (239) Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I.

3 Atticus: Chapter 26 (247) Scout, don t let Jem get you down. He s having a rough time these days. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Characterization Journal Fill out the chart below for Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. Use quotes with page references from the book. Make sure to have at least FIVE quotes for each category. SCOUT FINCH What does this character look like? Physical size (22) Catching Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard gave me some pleasure, but when I was rubbing his nose in the dirt Jem came by and told me to stop. You re bigger n he is, he said. Attire (81) Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possible hope to be a lady if I wore breeches. Injury (84) This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. Observations of Mrs. Dubose (106) So you brought that dirty sister of yours, did you? Preparing to go to church (117) She had put so much starch in my dress it came up like a tent when I sat down. She made me wear a petticoat and she wrapped a pink sash tightly around my waist. She went over my patent-leather shoes with a cold biscuit until she saw her face in them. Missionary circle (228) I was wearing my pink Sunday dress, shoes, and a petticoat, and reflected that if I spilled anything Calpurnia would have to wash my dress again for tomorrow. Conversation with Ms. Maudie (229) What does this character do or say? Picking up for Walter Cunningham (21) You re shamin him, Miss Caroline. Walter hasn t got a quarter at home to bring you, and you can t use any stovewood. Declining to fight Cecil Jacobs (77) Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and me to do something for him, I could take being called a coward for him. Talking to Walter Cunningham Sr. (154) He s in my grade, I said, and he does right well. He s a good boy, I added, a real nice boy. We brought him home for dinner one time. Maybe he told you about me, I beat him up one time but he was real nice about it. Tell him hey for me, won t you? Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in. Reaction to the lynch mob (156) The full meaning of the night s events hit me and I began crying. Agreeing that Boo Radley shouldn t be prosecuted (276) Well, it d be sort of like shootin a mockingbird, wouldn t it? Letting Boo Radley walk her home (278) I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm. He had to stoop a little to accommodate me, but if Miss Stephanie Crawford was watching from her upstairs

4 You re mighty dressed up, Miss Jean Louise. Where are your britches today? Under my dress. window, she would see Arthur Radley escorting me down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would do. What does this character think or believe? Thoughts on Atticus (89) Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries, and there was nothing Jem or I could say about him when our classmates said, My father Thoughts on being a lady (136) "I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life I thought of running away" Thoughts on hypocrisy (247) Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was she was goin down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her she was talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford. I heard her say it s time somebody taught em a lesson, they were getting way above themselves, an the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home- What do other characters say about Scout? Jem (7) Scout yonder s been readin ever since she was born, and she ain t even started to school yet. Jem (38) I swear, Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl it s mortifyin. Atticus (88) I m not worried about Jem keeping his head, but Scout d just as soon jump on someone as look at him if her pride s at stake Mrs. Dubose (106) So you brought that dirty sister of yours, did you? Mrs. Dubose (101) And you what are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady! You ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn t change your ways a Finch waiting on tables at the O.K. Café hah! Continued thoughts on being a lady (237) "After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I." Thoughts on Boo Radley / judging people (279) Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.

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